Unless you’re a night owl, you probably didn’t get the chance to sign up to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in DeKalb County this weekend.
DeKalb County Board of Health opened COVID-19 vaccine registrations at 8 p.m. Friday, but by 11 a.m. Saturday, the online sign-up was closed again following 3,000 new registrations. It was only the second time the county has accepted registrations from the public.
The first application window, which lasted less than 24 hours in early January, resulted in more than 20,000 registrations — dwarfing the county’s vaccine supply of roughly 8,000 doses at the time.
Board of Health spokesman Eric Nickens said the county has received enough vaccine supply to handle its backlog of registrations, adding that the most recent batch of registrations runs through Thursday. He said updates on the number of vaccine doses in the county will not be provided, because some people have come to the board of health facilities demanding to be vaccinated, believing that some doses are going unused.
“We do not want to create any additional security issues at our facilities,” he said.
The vaccinations are being offered to people 65 and older, healthcare workers and long-term care facility residents and staff.
The county said it will provide updates on vaccine registration on its website, dekalbhealth.net, and its social media accounts.
“If there are no appointments available, that means we have exhausted our supply of vaccine,” the board of health said in a news release. “We will not release additional appointments until we have received more doses of vaccine to ensure we can meet the demand. No on-site registration will be permitted.”
County health officials previously pleaded with the public to be patient during Georgia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout. The state’s vaccine rollout plan has been slower than advertised, leading to widespread criticism and frustration among people wanting to quickly become vaccinated.
At the same time, COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths continue to see an uptick across Georgia during the winter months.
DeKalb has set aside two drive-thru locations for vaccinations: the BrandsMart USA site in Doraville, 5000 Motors Industrial Way, and the former Sam’s Club site in Stonecrest, 2994 Turner Hill Road. COVID-19 testing continues at one location in DeKalb: Greater Piney Grove Baptist Church at 1879 Glenwood Avenue.
When more vaccination slots open, registration will be available at http://ow.ly/xImd50D3AAv or by calling 404-294-3700.
There are other places offering COVID-19 vaccinations in DeKalb County.
Anyone who has seen an Emory doctor in the last three years can request a COVID-19 immunization at emoryhealthcare.org/covid/index.html. Kaiser Permanente is also accepting vaccine registrations at 404-365-0966. Kroger, Ingles and Publix also recently announced that they’ll be offering the vaccine, but supplies are very limited.
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