By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great local journalism.
Gov. Kemp speaks in Gainesville about vaccine distribution in nursing homes
Gov. Brian Kemp
Gov. Brian Kemp speaks Monday, Dec. 28, 2020, outside of The Oaks at Limestone nursing home in Gainesville. Nursing home staff were set to receive some of the first COVID-19 vaccines allocated to long-term care facilities. - photo by Nick Watson

Nursing home staff members in Gainesville were set to receive some of the first COVID-19 vaccine doses allocated to long-term care facilities Monday, Dec. 28.

Gov. Brian Kemp spoke Monday morning outside of Pruitt Health’s The Oaks at Limestone on Flintridge Road about the beginning of an “exciting and important chapter” regarding the vaccine rollout.

“Right here at this facility, Pruitt Health is already lining up its caregivers to receive the vaccine,” Kemp said.

Kemp said a senior certified nurse assistant was selected to be the first Pruitt Health worker to receive the vaccine. The governor lauded the health care worker’s “willingness to step up.”

“It says a lot about your commitment to your patients and to your profession,” Kemp said.

Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities across the state have partnered with CVS Health and Walgreens to administer the vaccine to staff and residents.

“Across the country, no group has been hit harder by the virus than the residents and staff of our long-term care facilities,” Kemp said.

The first seven doses of the vaccine in Gainesville were administered Dec. 17 at Northeast Georgia Medical Center to frontline health care workers. Of the almost 5,000 doses allotted to Northeast Georgia Health System, nearly 1,000 doses had been administered by Dec. 21, according to NGHS officials.

“Two weeks ago, we watched hope arrive here in the state of Georgia as the COVID-19 vaccine began rolling out throughout the Peach State, and since then, we’ve been vaccinating the vaccinators in every corner of our state,” Kemp said.