District 4 Public Health has plenty of vaccine appointments available

Published 4:51 pm Thursday, April 15, 2021

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Anyone wanting to get a COVID-19 vaccine has plenty of chances to get one over the next week.

All 12 counties that District 4 Public Health serves, including Troup County, have open appointments this week and next week. Hayla Folden, public information officer for District 4 Public Health, said they might’ve reached the point where supply outpaces demand.

“This is very different,” Folden said. “I would say just two weeks ago within 15 minutes of having thousands of appointments loaded they would be gone. Within minutes. So for me to look at our appointment system on Monday, and it hasn’t changed much from Monday to today. We still have lots of appointments available.”

Folden said appointments were available from 10 a.m. until 1:45 p.m. in Troup County on Thursday, April 22.

There are also appointments in Heard County on April 20 at 2 p.m. and in Meriwether county April 20, 21 and 22. To make an appointment, visit https://gta-vras.powerappsportals.us/ or call (1-888) 457-0186.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health dashboard, 16% of Troup County residents have received their first shot and 11% are fully vaccinated.

“I don’t know what people are waiting on at this point, but if you have waited thinking that there’s going to be a long line, now is your chance to jump in and grab it in the same week or the next week,” Holden said.

Holden said Georgia pausing the Johnson & Johnson vaccine might have people worried, but she hopes everyone keeps those numbers in perspective. Administration of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was paused on Tuesday out of an abundance of caution after six people in the United States developed blood clots after receiving the vaccine. A total of 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine have been administered in the United States.

Holden said the decision to pause the Johnson & Johnson vaccine impacted their homebound vaccine delivery, but that those shots were swapped to Pfizer.

“I hope people understand that was the system working the way it was supposed to,” Folden said of Johnson & Johnson. “There is that safety monitoring in place to catch this early, and that millions of people have had that vaccine. And there’s like six or eight people [with blood clots that] were still caught out of millions. So that makes me feel good, knowing that there was a real close watch on the side effects and how things are working with the vaccine.”

In addition to the appointments District 4 Public Health has available, as of Thursday afternoon, Kroger in LaGrange had appointments listed for Monday-Friday of next week. The Kroger in Lanett, Alabama has appointments listed for Friday, April 16 as well as April 19-23. To book an appointment, visit https://www.kroger.com/rx/covid-vaccine.

Walmart on New Franklin Road has appointments listed throughout the day Monday, April 19 through Wednesday, April 21. To book an appointment, https://www.walmart.com/cp/1228302.