First phase of COVID vaccinations will soon expand. Here’s how to sign up in Columbus

Columbus has begun vaccinating its most at-risk residents and more will soon be eligible as state leaders move to expand the first group to receive vaccines.

This article may contain outdated information. To find the latest updates on Georgia’s vaccine rollout plan, please read our coronavirus guide.

The newly-expanded Phase 1A includes health care personnel, long-term care facility populations, individuals more than 65 years of age, law enforcement, firefighters and first responders.

If the state continues to receive adequate shipments of vaccine doses, vaccines will be available to the expanded group on Jan. 11, Pamela Kirkland, spokesperson for the West Central Department of Health, said.

In Columbus, vaccines are currently being distributed through the West Central Health District. Those in the Phase 1A category can submit a COVID-19 vaccination request form on the health department’s website or call the health department at 706-321-6300. Call wait times are reported to be around 30 minutes.

More than 200 vaccines have been administered in Columbus so far, says Kirkland.

A total of 123,030 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in Georgia , according to data from the Department of Public Health’s vaccine dashboard.

Vaccine availability is limited in the Columbus area. The manufacturers of the vaccine have control over when the doses are processed and shipped to local health departments. So far, Moderna has been the only vaccine manufacturer to ship to the West Central Health District.

“Everybody who wants to get it we’ll be able to get it. There’s no cost,” Kirkland said. “So, they will be able to receive it, it’s just going to take some time for us to get all the vaccines in from the manufacturer.”

Because vaccine doses are so scarce, the health department has to carefully plan vaccinations. The Moderna vaccine comes in a ten-dose vial.

“We have to make sure that we have 10 people to vaccinate, so that we don’t waste any because it can only be used for a certain period of time,” Kirkland said.

At drive-up vaccination events, upwards of 100 people are vaccinated, but for smaller appointments the logistics become more difficult.

After a vaccination request form is submitted, the health department contacts individuals to schedule an appointment. The number of patients at each appointment is coordinated so that doses are not wasted.

In Columbus, vaccinations are administered in the same health department parking lot where COVID-19 tests are performed but the vaccination team also travels to neighboring counties. Over the past week, Kirkland says they’ve administered dozens of vaccines to people in Phase 1A in Harris and Sumter counties.

Other high risk-populations in Columbus are receiving the vaccine in Phase 1A. Hospitals and long-term care facilities receive direct shipments of the vaccines and administer doses to staff that fall in the Phase 1A category.

“At this time, vaccine supplies are limited, and frontline health care workers, and those who may be exposed to the virus are among the first group to be vaccinated,” said Dr. Beverley Townsend, West Central District Health Director, in a press release from the health department. “We’re hopeful that we’ll receive more shipments of vaccine to efficiently administer it to all in the expanded group of Phase 1A.”

As the state continues to receive more vaccine shipments, providers throughout the state will administer the vaccine to eligible individuals. Over 1,300 providers in Georgia have enrolled as vaccine providers.

Georgia updates

Individuals 65 and older, law enforcement officers, firefighters and first responders will soon be included in the expanded Phase 1A, Kemp and Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey announced Dec. 30.

Prior to the announcement, Phase 1A included frontline healthcare workers and the residents and staff of long-term care facilities, according to previous copies of Georgia’s vaccination plan. Individuals older than 75 were previously in Phase 1B in Georgia and those ages 65-74 were previously in Phase 1C.

Toomey has said that Georgia will closely follow guidelines from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, an independent government advisory panel.

On December 20, the ACIP recommended the following priority groups that should be offered the vaccine first:

• Phase 1A: health care personnel and long-term care facility residents
• Phase 1B: persons aged ≥75 years and non–health care frontline essential workers
• Phase 1C: persons aged 65–74 years, persons aged 16–64 years with high-risk medical conditions, and essential workers not included in Phase 1B.

Though the elderly, police, firefighters and others have been moved into the expanded Phase 1A group, Georgia is expected to otherwise follow ACIP recommendations for later phases of vaccine distribution.

As of Jan. 7, the state has a total of 294,600 allocations of the Moderna vaccine and 331,550 allocations of the Pfizer vaccine. 256,425 vaccines from Pfizer and 254,600 vaccines from Moderna have been shipped to Georgia, according to data from the Georgia Department of Public Health.

“We would love to get people vaccinated as quickly as we can,” Kirkland said. “But we have to deal with what we have and right now it’s a limited supply for a lot of people.”

This story was originally published January 8, 2021 at 6:00 AM.