The resolution is one of the items on the city council’s agenda today.
ATLANTA – UPDATE: The resolution has been passed. Read the latest here.
The original story appears below.
On Monday, Atlanta City Council will ponder a resolution calling on the state to extend vaccination eligibility to key workers.
Currently, as part of the Georgian COVID-19 vaccine rollout plan, the 1A + group includes health care workers, residents and employees of long-term care facilities, employees of the first aid agency and adults aged 65 and over and their caregivers.
Governor Brian Kemp has so far refused to extend the authorization for important employees such as teachers. Many of them said they would not be comfortable returning to face-to-face classes without a vaccination.
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The governor has argued that the original expansion to 1A +, which included eligible adults 65 and over and first responders, had already expanded the pool of eligible individuals, so demand far exceeded supply.
Basic labor would currently be eligible once the state expands on Phase 1B of its rollout plan.
The resolution to be considered on Monday, tabled by Atlanta city councilors Antonio Brown and Dustin Hillis, found Georgia deviated from the recommendations of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) on introducing vaccine distribution.
These recommendations include healthcare workers as well as residents and long-term care facility workers in Phase 1A of how Georgia’s plan began. However, recommendations in Phase 1B include adults aged 75 and over who are frontline key workers.
The ACIP frontline worker classifications include: “First responders (e.g., firefighters and police officers), correctional officers, grocery and farm workers, U.S. Postal Service workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store workers, public transit workers, and those who… The education sector (teachers and support staff) and childcare workers work in the EU. “
As Georgia expanded to 1A +, it deviated slightly from the ACIP rollout recommendations by including adults 65 instead of 75 and older and first responders only, rather than the full list of essential workers set out by the CDC committee.
The Atlanta Council resolution urges the Georgian Department of Health to “revise the Georgia Immunization Program 1A + population designation to include all ACIP material workers” because “these essential workers are likely to have the highest risk of occupational exposure.” are exposed “to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as their work-related tasks must be performed on site and in close proximity (<6 feet) to the public or employees. "
In a brief response to the proposed measure, Governor Kemp said he believed that Dr. However, Kathleen Toomey, the public health commissioner, was more qualified to make a decision, but said he would wait to make further comments until he saw the full proposal.
The city council will meet this morning at 11:15 a.m.