Senate bills 372 and 345, have been promoted as being explicitly about stopping mandated proof of COVID vaccination to access government services. But neither mentions COVID and could broadly affect vaccine mandates altogether.
In a sweeping interview with GPB News, Commissioner of Public Health Kathleen Toomey touched on everything from the emotional toll the pandemic has taken on public health staff to widespread vaccine hesitancy across all racial groups in Georgia.
Public health and government officials sighed with relief when COVID-19 vaccinations came to Coastal Georgia last December. The first 84,000 doses were set aside for those working in health care, including Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the commissioner for the Georgia Department of Public Health.
She spoke after receiving her first shot, saying vaccination felt like the "light at the end of a tunnel" after a long, hard year.
Georgians still have access to monoclonal antibody infusions despite a recent change in the distribution model, Gov. Brian Kemp said during a briefing at the state Capitol on Thursday. And DPH Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey said fully vaccinated Georgians who feel they are at risk should consider getting a booster shot if they were fully vaccinated with the Pfizer brand.
Georgia Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the state's top public health official, broke down in tears Tuesday as she thanked public health workers for their work in the pandemic. She praised the workers for continuing to do "incredible" work, even though "we're not only not valued, we're ridiculed."
Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday may have, perhaps, made his most direct plea for Georgians to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
"I mean, the numbers do not lie; 95% of the people in the hospital with COVID-19 have not been vaccinated," Kemp told reporters during a news conference. "And I would urge you to do that. That is what we need to unite and focus on instead of having, you know, different mandates and all that."
With census data now in the hands of state legislators, preparations for the upcoming reapportionment special session can begin. We spoke to a member of the House redistricting committee to hear what the learned from listening sessions with Georgians about how they’d like to see the process of drawing new maps unfold.
Thursday on Political Rewind: Overall, the pandemic’s grip on the state has loosened. New cases and hospitalizations have fallen to new lows, and deaths from the virus have become far more rare. As a result, Gov. Brian Kemp lifted the restrictions he had imposed more than a year ago. But Georgia remains in the lower tier of states for putting shots in arms, especially in rural areas.
The advisory board for the state’s public health agency plans to resume its regular public meetings this fall after not holding any since before the COVID-19 pandemic first reached Georgia early last year.
Residents and staff in long-term health care facilities are currently being inoculated with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. While this population makes up only 5% of coronavirus cases in the state, residents in these facilities make up more than 37% of the deaths from COVID-19 in Georgia, according to the state health department.
Emergency rooms across Georgia are seeing more suspected drug overdoses, raising concerns the state is beginning to see an exacerbated epidemic emerge...
Georgia’s coronavirus dashboard has seen a number of data reporting issues in recent weeks, but Gov. Brian Kemp is asking Georgians to be patient with...
