ATLANTA — As more and more pharmacies in Georgia join the COVID-19 vaccination effort, pressure to speed up the administration process increases.
On Monday, the Georgia Department of Public Health showed only 45 percent of doses received in Georgia had been given to people with more than 500,000 shots still waiting to be administered.
The CEO of the Georgia Pharmacy Association, Bob Coleman blames a disconnect between the public and pharmacies for a delay in distribution, adding that DPH's vaccine locator site isn't always updated.
“I know for a fact more pharmacies that have the vaccine than are on the list today," said Coleman.
Out of the 430 independent pharmacies in Georgia, 43 are distributing the vaccine according to the state's pharmacy association. Last week, Publix, Ingles, and Kroger joined the list of vaccination providers.
Coleman added the other possible cause of delay is demand.
"There’s more vaccine coming. We're only dealing with two vaccines that have been approved Pfizer and Moderna," said Coleman.
Georgia is now in Phase 1A of the vaccination distribution plan making it available to people over 65, first responders, and law enforcement which many believe has increased the demand significantly.
So far, just over one million vaccines have been allocated to Georgia; but only 88 percent of those have been shipped to the state.