The city of Atlanta is asking the state to offer COVID-19 vaccine doses to a wider group of essential workers in the first phase of inoculations, including teachers and MARTA employees.
The City Council passed a resolution Monday asking the state to revise the 1A+ vaccine population designation to include the full set of essential workers as defined by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. That includes first responders, corrections officers, U.S. Postal Service workers, grocery store workers, public transit employees and teachers.
Georgia is currently in phase 1A+ of the vaccine distribution. Shots are available to healthcare workers, law enforcement and fire department personnel and adults over 65 and their caregivers.
The Council’s resolution, which also urged every eligible person to receive a vaccination, is similar to a recent measure from the Atlanta Board of Education that called for teachers to get speedier access to vaccines.
Gov. Brian Kemp denied that request, saying the state doesn’t have enough of the vaccine to expand the program.
“While we have made extraordinary progress ... we have a long, tough journey ahead of us,” Kemp wrote in a letter.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has called for more local input on how vaccines are distributed. She told reporters on Friday that the city would like to more quickly vaccinate its teachers and other frontline employees like sanitation workers.
The state had administered 1.4 million vaccine doses as of Monday, according to the Georgia Department of Public Health.
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