AUGUSTA, Ga. — In a roundtable discussion Gov. Brian Kemp was joined by AU leaders as well as local pastors to discuss their progress in the vaccine distribution.
” Thank you for all the work you’ve been doing in the local community. Its quite a partnership that we’ve had with AU, Dr. Keel’s team and really the whole community in the CSRA,” Kemp said.
He applauded local pastors for their vaccination efforts and reaching their congregations — many in the black community who have struggled with vaccine hesitancy
” I think the pastors made a really good point. they were talking about vaccinating 70 – 80 percent of the eligible members in the church which is an incredible percentage. I think that’s something we need to continue,” Kemp said.
Kemp said they’ve also seen a drop in cases and hospitalizations statewide over the past few weeks.
” At one point over 30 percent of patients in our hospitals statewide were covid. That is down now below 10 percent and is probably lower than that. That is continuing to drop across the state.”
Kemp also stressed the importance of getting the vaccine into rural communities — this week five mass vaccination sites opened in rural counties across the state.
