Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said he would not move teachers to the front of the line for vaccines, despite calls for teachers to be included in the first group to receive vaccines.
Kemp sent a letter in response to the Atlanta Board of Education after the board approved a resolution requesting all educators be moved into the 1a+ group for the new vaccine.
In the letter, Kemp said the state did not have an adequate supply of the vaccine to accomplish such a feat.
“In response to your resolution: I agree,” Kemp wrote. “If the state were receiving adequate supply of the COVID-19 vaccines, Dr. Toomey and I would quickly move to expand the current vaccination criteria.”
According to Kemp, the state has more than 2 million people who are currently eligible for the vaccine and adding teachers would add more than 450,000 to that number. So far the state has administered just over 1 million vaccines. According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, the state has received just over 1.5 million vaccines.
Citing new data released by the Centers for Disease Control, Kemp said well-established science has shown that vaccinating teachers is not a prerequisite for safely reopening schools.
Thom Chandler
Thom Chandler is the editor of The Georgia Sun and has been writing, editing and managing websites and blogs since 1995. He is a lifelong Georgian and one of those increasingly rare Atlanta natives.
