State, county lagging behind in vaccination percentages

Georgia has the lowest percentage of COVID-19 vaccinations in the United States, and Clinch County is below the state average for vaccinations. 

According to data provided by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and Georgia Department of Public Health, Georgia has around 19 percent of its population that have received at least one dose of the vaccine, and 11 percent have been vaccinated with two doses or their dosage is complete. Those are the lowest percentages of any state in the U.S., according to the CDC. Meanwhile, Clinch County is below the state average, at just 13 percent (869) people have received at least one dose in Clinch County, and only 7.4 percent (498) have completed their dosage of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to an analysis by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, compiled from DPH figures. That data doesn’t take into account that Clinch Countians may have gone to another county to receive the vaccine. It is just rates for vaccinations performed in Clinch County.

State officials are urging Georgians to receive the vaccine to help stem the COVID-19 pandemic that has crippled the country, and world, over the past year.  Clinch Countians 16 and older have several local options on how to receive the vaccine.

Here are some of the options for Clinch Countians to received the vaccine:

• Call Clinch Memorial Hospital at 912-487-5211 to set up a vaccine appointment.

• Call the Clinch County Health Department at 1-855-473-4374 to set up a vaccine appointment.

• Walgreens of Homerville is offering the vaccine. Stop by the pharmacy at North Church Street in Homerville to set up an appointment. 

• Call 1-844-276-3952 to set a vaccine appointment at the mass vaccine site at the Waycross Mall.

• Call Lakeland Drugs at 229-482-3677 to set up an appointment to receive a vaccine.

• Go online to myvaccinegeorgia.com to find out more options on how to get a vaccine.

“I just want to encourage everybody to get the vaccine,” Governor Brian Kemp said recently. “We’re seeing this across the country, but especially in the South, we’re seeing vaccine hesitancy. There should not be hesitancy. This is a medical miracle.”

Over 862,000 people had tested positive for COVID-19 in Georgia as of Monday afternoon, with the virus killing over 17,000 Georgians.

For Clinch County, there have been 728 reported COVID-19 cases since the pandemic started, according to the state Department of Public Helath website, and 25 confirmed deaths of county residents in connection with the coronavirus. In the past two weeks, the DPH is reporting three new cases of the virus in Clinch County.

Nationwide, vaccinations for people 65 years old or over is 79 percent for one vaccine shot, and 62 percent are fully vaccinated, as of Monday, according to figures supplied by the CDC.