BARTOW COUNTY, Ga. — State emergency leaders and the Georgia National Guard are setting up new mass vaccination sites in anticipation of the state stepping up Georgia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
The expanded list of people who can get the shot in Georgia goes into effect on Monday, March 15.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne was the only Atlanta reporter to get early access to one of the new sites.
The five sites set to open Monday will join four others led by the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, or GEMA, with help from the Georgia National Guard and others that have been operating for weeks across the state.
“As of midafternoon, how many Georgians have been vaccinated at the GEMA-led sites?” Winne asked Tim Reeve with GEMA.
“Just under 47,000,” Reeve said.
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Reeve told Winne he switched from the mass vaccination site by Atlanta’s airport to coordinating setup at the new site in Bartow County.
“We’re going to start out doing around 1,000 to 1,100 [doses] a day at this site,” Reeve said.
Georgia National Guard Lt. Col. Meryl Henry told us in civilian life she’s a pharmacist for Northside Hospital, but she’s now coordinating vaccine handling for the four GEMA-lead sites currently operating and the five new sites that will be opening next week.
She will also be working in concert with the Georgia Department of Public Health to ensure the sites get the right amount of vaccine.
“I’m very proud and honored,” Henry said.
Henry said, starting Wednesday, 396 Georgia National Guard members will be working at the GEMA-led mass vaccination sites across the state, providing mainly traffic control, supply management, administrative support and security.
“You feel like the more of these mass vaccination sites that continue to open, the more lives will be saved?” Winne asked Henry.
“Absolutely, 100%. As long as people are aware that these sites are available and they come to get vaccinated,” Henry said.
Reeve said experience at the first four sites led to tweaks incorporated for the new ones, including the Bartow County site in the massive LakePoint Sports complex’s parking lot.
“We want to do our part to get the vaccination into the residents of greater Atlanta and northwest Georgia,” said David Pate with LakePoint Sports.
Reeve said LakePoint Sports is donating the use of the property for free, and if you’re coming to one of the GEMA sites, be sure to make an appointment through myvaccinegeorgia.com.
In a statement from Gov. Brian Kemp, he said:
“As we receive more vaccine supply, we will make sure we have the sites and capacity to utilize those doses as quickly as possible. I appreciate the hard work of GEMA staff — in coordination with the Georgia National Guard and DPH — to get these sites stood up and administering tens of thousands of shots every week.”
Cox Media Group
