Gov. Kemp says he’s confident Georgia can open vaccines to all adults in matter of weeks

Gov. Brian Kemp says he is confident that vaccines can open up to all adults in Georgia in a matter of weeks.

Nearly 3.5 million additional Georgians will become newly-eligible for the vaccine starting next week. Those groups include people 55 and older and those who have high-risk health conditions.

[SPECIAL SECTION: COVID-19 Vaccine in Georgia]

During a Thursday meeting with leaders in the Latino community, Kemp addressed Georgia’s rollout along with the criticism the state has faced.

The governor said that elderly and high-risk patients have accounted for most of the state’s hospitalizations and deaths.

“When we started this process, our hospitals were dang near full and we were opening up additional facilities. We had a lot of sick people in our state and lot of deaths,” Kemp said.

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The governor said the measured, targeted rollout has been effective.

“You can look at all kind of different data sets and poke at any state about not doing this, that and other. But our goal has not just been to get a shot in every single arm, wherever it is, not matter what the age, whatever. We have targeted the people that would end up in a hospital.”

[Q&A: What you can and can’t do once you’re fully vaccinated, according to guidelines]

Kemp said he has received no pressure from the White House to speed up his rollout.

In fact, he said demand continues to wane in places like rural Georgia or in certain groups. If supply continues to increase, the governor is ready to expand as soon as April.

“That may change. It may get moved up, it possibly could get moved back,” Kemp said.

The governor and Georgia Department of Public Health officials said they are working with FEMA to ensure the rollouts happen in a variety of places, not just at the big vaccination sites.

They are talking about mobile vaccination sites and pop-up sites that can hit areas where people might be hesitant about getting the shot.

WHO QUALIFIES IN NEXT ROUND

There are more than a dozen medical conditions that will qualify for the vaccine starting on Monday. Those issues include diabetes, obesity, heart disease and having a compromised immune system. The full list can be found here.

“The whole point of vaccines is not to prevent the disease 100%, but really to prevent severe disease that would require people to end in the hospital,” Dr. Gavin Harris with Emory University told Channel 2′s Tom Regan.

[LINK: Where to find the COVID-19 vaccine in Georgia]

Pregnant women also qualify in the next round. Harris said mothers-to-be should not worry about side effects on them or their babies.

“We have not seen any untoward events or effects on fertility. We have not seen an untoward affects on fetal development thus far and we have significant data over the past couple of months,” Harris said.

“Many of my colleagues, if not all of my colleagues, who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, have received the vaccine.”

Regan asked Harris if he would recommend a particular vaccine for pregnant women. Harris said any one that they can get is fine.

Vaccines now available for pregnant women in Georgia

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