The same electronic systems used to record when patients get a physical or go to the ER are also used to log data when coronavirus vaccines are given. But the systems don't share information easily.
Glitchy websites, jammed phone lines and long lines outside clinics are complicating the vaccine rollout. And older Americans and those without caregivers and computer skills are at a disadvantage.
Sudden demand flooded a county website and its phone lines. So CD Davidson-Hiers found herself in the middle of the chaos, fielding calls from residents eager to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
The findings stand to add legitimacy to the Sputnik vaccine, which was met with skepticism last August when the Russian government touted its move to formally register the world's first vaccine.
Worries about how quickly the vaccine was developed and what long-term effects it may have are keeping some Latinos from getting vaccinated for the coronavirus.
The Georgia governor's office says public health departments and other providers are being forced to “pause" appointments for people hoping to get vaccinated against the coronavirus in the Cobb-Douglas counties district.
SARS-CoV-2 variants are in the United States and Georgia's health department reports at least six cases of the recent variant that appears more transmissible. An infectious disease expert with Emory University says wearing masks will help.
"We have within our own personal responsibility, we have the tools to be able to minimize transmission and eliminate it," Dr. Colleen Kraft said.
In a new round of tests, the drug company wants to see if booster doses of its vaccine will ramp up defenses against emerging strains of the coronavirus.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and former president of Liberia, says much of Africa may be left out until 2022. "We don't have the resources. It's as simple as that," she says.
The pursuit of a COVID-19 vaccine in Georgia — amid busy phone lines, patchy supplies from county to county and private providers hesitant to schedule crucial second doses — remains a logistical challenge even for the most truly patient.
That might change some with tens of thousands more doses due to circulate in the general population as well as with a coming one-stop website to get connected to vaccinations from public health.
Lydia, a mother of three in Canada, was opposed getting her kids vaccinated against childhood diseases. The pandemic led her out of that movement. Getting there was a years-long search for answers.
The variant in Brazil is causing a surge in Manaus, a city where the virus previously infected huge numbers in the spring of 2020. Researchers are trying to determine why.
Thursday on Political Rewind: Georgia once again finds itself among the worst states in the nation for new COVID-19 cases and deaths, according to state data and a recent report from the White House Coronavirus Task Force. While the task force numbers indicate a slight improvement in recent weeks, 821 Georgians died from the virus in just the seven-day period ending last Friday. The staggering toll comes even as the state faces a dwindling supply of vaccines as well as confusion about rollout.
