Georgia Coronavirus Vaccine Guidelines Issued By Gov. Kemp

GEORGIA — Gov. Brian Kemp again extended Georgia's public health state of emergency on Monday until Jan. 8, 2021, and extended current coronavirus restrictions. A new addition to the renewed order includes guidelines for distributing the pending coronavirus vaccine.

The executive order includes changes that allow nurses and pharmacists to administer the pending COVID-19 vaccine, including in a drive-thru setting, and permits any nurse or pharmacist to observe patients for the requisite 15-minute window after receiving the vaccine. The executive order runs through 11:59 p.m. Dec. 15, unless extended.

Among Kemp's guidelines are gatherings limited to 50 or fewer people, with Georgia residents still "encouraged," but not required, to wear masks.

The Georgia Department of Public Health in Atlanta reported a total of 422,131 confirmed cases of COVID-19 at 3 p.m. Monday. In addition, Georgia reported a total of 8,778 deaths to date from the coronavirus.

All Georgia statistics are available on the state's COVID-19 website.

Also on Tuesday, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel is expected to meet to craft guidance on who should get the coronavirus vaccine first.

According to a report by The New York Times, there is widespread agreement that health care workers should receive the vaccine first, followed by essential workers and employees and residents of long-term care facilities.

Guidance released by the CDC is expected to be exactly that — guidance. The decision on how to distribute the vaccine and who should receive it first will ultimately fall to states.

Moderna Inc., one of the pharmaceutical companies working on its final trials, said Monday it would ask U.S. and European regulators to allow emergency use for the vaccine. Early results show the vaccine is more than 94 percent effective, according to The Associated Press.

Vaccine approval could come from the Food and Drug Administration as early as this month.

Globally, more than 63.4 million people have tested positive for COVID-19, and nearly 1.5 million people have died from it, Johns Hopkins University reported Tuesday morning.

In the United States, more than 13.5 million people have been infected and more than 268,000 people have died from COVID-19 as of Tuesday. The U.S. has only about 4 percent of the world's population but more confirmed cases and deaths than any other country.

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This article originally appeared on the Woodstock-Towne Lake Patch