An east Georgia medical center that prioritized teachers in the local line for COVID-19 vaccination is being punished by the state.
Georgia will suspend shipments of coronavirus vaccine to The Medical Center of Elberton until the summer.
Brooke McDowell, an administrator there, said that leaves her Elbert County community with few options to get the potentially life-saving vaccine.
“In essence, it is because we vaccinated school teachers,” McDowell said. “I’m pretty pissed about it because we are a tight-knit community. ... Our community is relying on us to vaccinate them, and our state has decided, during a pandemic, to suspend our privileges.”
The Georgia Department of Public Health told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution by email Wednesday night that the 6-month suspension is effective immediately until July 27. The center can use its remaining vaccine inventory to give second doses to patients, the agency said.
The AJC first reported Tuesday on its website that the center had offered to vaccinate all willing employees of the Elbert County School District, and about 40% of them took advantage of the opportunity.
But Georgia has not yet authorized the vaccination of teachers.
“Moving to additional phases without approval from DPH is a violation of the vaccine provider agreement,” a spokeswoman for the state agency had told the AJC in an email Tuesday. “If an investigation confirms that a vaccine provider is in violation of the provider agreement, the agreement can be rescinded and the provider will no longer receive the vaccine.”
By Wednesday, the agency had verified through its immunization registry that the center had vaccinated people in the Elbert County School District who were ineligible under what the state is calling its “1A+” inoculation phase.
“It is critical that DPH maintains the highest standards for vaccine accountability to ensure all federal and state requirements are adhered to by all parties, and vaccine is administered efficiently and equitably,” the agency said by email to the AJC.
Earlier Wednesday, Elbert schools Superintendent Jon Jarvis had praised the medical center — the main COVID-19 vaccine provider in his community — for moving his teachers, bus drivers, cafeteria workers and other employees ahead in the line, to protect them as they keep the schools open for his 3,000 students.
“We really want to have all the teachers in our state to have this opportunity,” Jarvis had said.
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