Name: Georgia teachers are traveling to Alabama for vaccines
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Georgia teachers are traveling to Alabama for vaccines

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NEW!2,929sharesAs various states work through COVID-19 vaccination groups, it was inevitable that some would move faster than others.This month, Alabama opened vaccinations to teachers and school staff members, . Across the state line in Georgia, teachers also have worked in-person during much of the school year, but Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration has not yet expanded shots to teachers, .So when Marni Bekerman, a middle school program manager at a school in the Atlanta metro, saw where Georgia teachers were discussing the possibility of signing up for vaccinations in Alabama, she jumped at the chance.“I don’t believe in taking the vaccine from people who need it and who need to get priority on it first,” she said. “I had always said that if there was a dose that was going to be thrown away then I would happily take that, or if it was legal somewhere and it was open to the education field I would do that, but I would never take it from somebody who was high risk.”“Then, when I saw Alabama had opened up, and providers didn’t care about your address, it checked the boxes.”Bekerman has been working from home since the birth of her daughter, she said, but most of her colleagues have been working and teaching in-person. Receiving her first shot will get her one step closer to returning to work in the building with them, she said. in are working to help Georgia residents get vaccines, and occasionally recommend people who are eligible drive to Alabama. Auburn’s Walmart, , is a two-hour drive from Atlanta. The Walmart appointment website does not ask participants to give a home address.Currently, Alabama is vaccinating healthcare workers, employees and residents of long-term care facilities, first responders and people ages 65 and older. Alabama is also vaccinating corrections officers; food and agriculture workers; U.S. Postal Service workers; manufacturing, grocery store and public transit workers; teachers and those who work in the education sector; childcare workers; judiciary; and clergy and ministers. The state per week.State officials at the Alabama Department of Education do not have an estimate of how many teachers and educators currently have been vaccinated.Alabama is not tracking the number of people from out of state seeking vaccines, according to a spokeswoman from the state Department of Health. Earlier in the pandemic, elderly Alabamians made headlines when, , they drove to Mississippi or Florida to seek shots.Most states do not appear to be tracking non-residents’ vaccinations, but Florida estimated people with non-resident addresses .Earlier in the pandemic, a Georgia official told AL.com that vaccine providers in their state “should not be vaccinating” out-of-staters just because they met the current eligibility standards. Still, to Bainbridge or Columbus and receiving shots.The vaccine response is a “federal asset,” so, generally speaking, someone should have the same access to shots no matter where they live in the U.S., said Marissa Levine, a public health professor at the University of South Florida. Of course, that isn’t currently true, though the federal government is speeding up and increasingly coordinating its efforts. The question may be persistent throughout the pandemic. Vaccine shopping, or an individual using their time, resources and energy to get a vaccine appointment sooner rather than later, is not morally wrong, but does shed light on the difficulty the average person has in navigating current signup options, ethicists said. Experts also cautioned against anyone using money or personal influence to skip the line.Until access is even across states and individual communities, shopping is likely to persist in every tier that opens up.“This very issue identifies the importance of having a robust, capable public health infrastructure in every state in our country,” Levine said, citing the Centers for Disease Control and Preparedness’ designation of effective vaccine distribution as essential for state and local health departments. “Without that, we risk just what we are seeing here, which is an outmigration of those people with means who travel in search of whatever asset they seek (in this case COVID vaccination). Although those folks may be successful in getting vaccinated, the lack of a robust public health infrastructure everywhere worsens disparate health outcomes. And that impacts us all.”Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

NEW!2,929sharesAs various states work through COVID-19 vaccination groups, it was inevitable that some would move faster than others.This month, Alabama opened vaccinations to teachers and school staff members, . Across the state line in Georgia, teachers also have worked in-person during much of the school year, but Gov. Brian Kemp’s administration has not yet expanded shots to teachers, .So when Marni Bekerman, a middle school program manager at a school in the Atlanta metro, saw where Georgia teachers were discussing the possibility of signing up for vaccinations in Alabama, she jumped...

Georgia teachers are traveling to Alabama for vaccines

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