A mobile COVID-19 vaccine site operated by the Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE) has opened in Sandy Springs and will expand to other Fulton County cities starting next week. The sites will administer vaccines to underserved communities and are not open to the general public.
CORE representatives are reaching out to churches, charities and other organizations that will contact members or clients to get them registered for the vaccine, spokesman Bobby Hammelman said.
On Friday, communities contacted through the Mexican consulate in Atlanta will receive vaccines at the Sandy Springs location, he said.
CORE offered vaccines to staff at the Community Assistance Center, a local non-profit that provides food and financial assistance to individuals and families in need, but the organization had not yet been asked to offer vaccinations to clients, Communications Manager Kristen Ristino said Thursday.
The Sandy Springs location opened for two days last week and will continue to operate a few days a week through April and possibly longer. It was the first Fulton city that a CORE mobile vaccine unit traveled to, Hammelman said. Next week, more mobile units will open in East Point, College Park and Union City.
CORE’s goal is to vaccinate 200 people per day and reach Hispanic communities as well as people whose health conditions put them at higher risk, such as those high blood pressure and diabetes, Sandy Springs Fire Chief Keith Sanders said during a March 16 City Council meeting.
Sandy Springs paramedics and emergency medical technicians will help to administer COVID-19 vaccines locally, Sanders said.
CORE was co-founded by actor Sean Penn after an earthquake killed nearly a quarter of a million Haitians in 2010. Last year, the organization tested more than 100,000 people in Fulton for coronavirus. The county gave $3 million to CORE for additional mobile testing units to focus on hotspot communities.
In addition to the Atlanta metro area, CORE mobile vaccine sites have opened in Los Angeles, Hammelman said. More locations are planned for Chicago and the Navajo Nation, he said.
