The Limited of Vaccines in Savannah Georgia and How That May Impact the Rate of New Cases
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The Limited of Vaccines in Savannah Georgia and How That May Impact the Rate of New Cases
In 2019, a pandemic, coronavirus (COVID-19 hit the whole world and consequently constituted adverse effects. The first case was identified in Wuhan, China, and has been spreading globally (Ciccozzi, 2019). Massive deaths have been recorded worldwide, and the need for lockdowns and safety measures were put in place to control the spread of the COVID-19 disease. The symptoms defer and are variable, but they often include fatigue, cough, breathing difficulties, fever, taste, and smell loss. These symptoms usually appear from twelve to fourteen days after being exposed to the coronavirus. The number of people infected in Savannah, Georgia, has only been going up, which has only caused so much tension and fear among the residents. New cases of people who have contracted COVID-19 have been reported daily, and new cases of people who have succumbed to the disease have been recorded. The World Health Organization has tried to develop measures to reduce coronavirus spread as possible, but there is still so much that needs to be done (Cucinotta & Vanelli, 2020). The World Health Organization has guided most health organizations in the global world to put in place some measures to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus. Some of the measures which have also been enforced in Savannah Georgia are, everyone who is above two years old should wear a mask, sanitizing or washing hands has become the new norm, avoiding social gatherings at has been enforced, guidelines on how to wear the masks correctly have also been enforced as well. The measures put in place have been very impactful, but the number of new cases is still going up. This paper thus evaluates the limited vaccines in savannah Georgia and how that may impact the rate of new cases.
The World Health Organization, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention and various medical experts, have a vaccination to help fight the COVID- 19 viruses. The vaccination has been recommended and is currently being used by a lot of states. The vaccination typically takes a few weeks to develop an immune system for the body to recognize the virus that causes COVID-19 and fight it and prevent a person from getting ill from COVID-19. The biggest challenge is that this is a global pandemic, and everyone needs to get the vaccination to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus any further. This is practically impossible. Some people in some given countries might not be able to receive the vaccination due to social class, age, political affiliation, availability of distributed resources, or the geographical location. The biggest challenge we have in Savannah, Georgia, is that it is heavily populated as well. Not everyone can receive COVID-19 vaccination. Some people might be able to receive others, not due to the scarcity of the vaccination and other cities also have a bigger population than Savannah, Georgia.
The limitation for the number of vaccinations in Savannah, Georgia, directly impacted the rate of new cases for the coronavirus disease. On January 27, 2021, Georgia Medical Centre received more doses of COVID-19 vaccines due to the rising cases of people infected with coronavirus disease (Logan, 2021). The Public Commissioner for Health, referred to as Dr. Toomey, had raised a concern that they were not getting enough doses of COVID-19 vaccines considering how big their population is currently. Governor Kemp is arguing that the lack of COVID-19 vaccination supply is greatly affecting the control of the COVID-19 disease as new cases are being reported daily, and people are succumbing to the virus. Savannah, Georgia state is in a stage called Phase 1A+, where specific people have to be given preferential treatment. Such people include people over 65 years of age and above (since their immune system is low), healthcare workers, first responders, and caretakers of healthcare workers.
Georgia health officials stated that over two and a half million individuals are in this phase, and not even half of these people have been able to receive the vaccination. Lack of enough vaccination directly impacts the rising cases of COVID-19 cases because the vaccination takes around twelve to fourteen days to develop a strong immune system for the body to recognize the virus that causes COVID-19 and fight it prevent a person from getting ill from COVID-19. During this time, the individual might still contact an infected person and cause chances of contracting the disease again. The individual might be a close family member, a guardian, a relative or a friend. The vaccination has been proved to be effective in certain states. However, it is important to consider that it was recently put out. We still do not know the effect of the vaccination over a long period on a person’s normal immune system. Limitation in the provision of COVID-19 vaccination directly impacts the rise of new cases since the people who are vaccinated are a very small number and are still in constant interactions with people who might be infected with the COVID-19 virus. It is more efficient to ensure constant and more supplies to ensure that a lot of people in constant interaction in Savannah, Georgia, have been vaccinated.
In Georgia, one of the Medical Centre was suspended from receiving COVID-19 vaccination program on allegations and complaints that the vaccination was given to people who were not in the 1A+ category (Savage, 2021). This category does not include teachers, but over 170 teachers have been provided medication. Teachers are also important individuals who need to be vaccinated since they interact with children and other stakeholders. It is important to avoid the spread of COVID-19 as possible. They are also very much exposed since they meet different people daily. Instead of stopping the supply of COVID-19 to Medical Centers because some vaccinations have been supplied to people, not the 1A+ category, there should be the provision of more COVID-19 vaccinations to enable more people to be vaccinated so that we control the spread of COVID-19 disease.
The figures below show updated COVID-19 cases
Figure 2. Covid-19 data view in Savannah Georgia
From the two figures above, it is evident that the COVID-19 cases are going up. The graphical representation in the first figure clearly shows the rising trend in coronavirus disease cases. If we had a constant supply of the COVID-19 vaccination, the new cases and deaths would be reduced to the lowest possible numbers. The second figure has information regarding COVID-19 cases that have been collected from Johns Hopkins University. Due to the case under study, the secondary data gathered from hospitals and clinics in Savannah, Georgia would be most appropriate.
The local health and state health officials are constantly keeping track of the new COVID-19 cases and deaths in Savannah, Georgia. As per the second figure above, the online data for Savannah Georgia is usually collected around 3 p.m. daily by the Georgia Department of Public Health. There are at least three to five deaths recorded in Toombs County, Glynn County, Chatham County, Appling County, Coffee County, Candler County, Screven County and Montgomery County. The hospitalizations recorded daily are also high, and numerous tests are covered daily. Tests that have carried so far are close to 6.4 million, ICU admissions are 8,300 and hospitalizations are 50,000. The costs of carrying out these tests daily, covering hospital expenses and other utilities daily, and covering burial expenses daily could be used to get more vaccinations to help reduce cases of spreading COVID-19 disease.
Hospice Savannah had a vaccination clinic that was only open to people who were under appointment or those who qualify under Phase 1A+(Staff,2021) who were: 65 years of age and above (since their immune system is low), healthcare workers, first responders, and caretakers of healthcare workers as well. Only five hundred people received the vaccine, yet so many individuals tried to get the vaccine by appointment, yet they could not make it. It is so sad how eager people are to get a vaccination to ensure they do not succumb as many people have done due to contracting the COVID-19 virus.
The Coastal Health District Director Dr Davis Lawton has constantly been complaining that number of new cases. Deaths that have been rising can be reduced by ensuring that there is the availability of more vaccination to the people of Savannah Georgia since other states which have received more vaccinations have reported positive feedback and the number of people infected with the COVID-19 disease has constantly been reducing (Savannah Morning News Staff, 2021b). Dr Davis Lawton also states that one of the counties that have suffered the most has been Chatham, the largest county in Georgia, and the numbers have not been showing positive feedback. The illustrative graph below shows an increase in Chatham county in Georgia on seven-day average new cases of COVD-19 virus.
Figure 3: The 7-day rolling Average of new COVID-19 cases in Chatham County
Although the measures that have been put in place to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have been helpful not only to Savannah, Georgia, but also to other places worldwide, they are still expensive. The cost of production for masks, costs for training more people to help carry out tests for COVID-19, costs for hospitals and hospital utilities, costs for sanitizers and other items are generally high. It will be more cost-effective to use most of the resources at our disposal to ensure that the COVID-19 vaccination can reach as many people as possible, and this will go a long way to reduce its spread. Savannah Georgia had put up a job opening for contact tracers to help the Georgia Department of Public health hire contact tracers to assist the Department of Public health and Local Boards of Health in performing COVID-19 tracing curb more spread of COVID-19(Public Health, 2021).
Unfortunately, it is still surprising that are many people who still do not fall under Phase 1A+(Staff,2021) who were: 65 years of age and above (since their immune system is low), first responders, healthcare workers, and caretakers have been told to book appointments, yet they have not been given any response yet. This shows how desperate people are to receive vaccinations since they are aware this COVID-19 virus can be so dangerous if one’s immune system is not strong and many people have succumbed to the virus.
The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention is advocating for more vaccinations for people on a global scale. It is a more efficient and convenient way of controlling the spread of the COVID-19 disease since it has proven to work for people in many regions (COVID-19 and Your Health, 2020b). The vaccination aims to ensure that a person’s immune system is strong enough to detect COVID-19 virus early enough to fight it and prevent a person from contracting the virus. Although the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention is providing recommendations on who should be vaccinated first based on the risk associated, I still strongly believe more resources could be deployed to ensure that as many people get the vaccine possible (Dror & Sela, 2020).
In conclusion, it is arguable that the limitation on the availability of vaccination to people in Savannah, Georgia and worldwide has a direct impact on the new cases of COVID-19 cases and deaths recorded daily (Curtis & Netea, 2020). The best way to deal with a global pandemic is to ensure as many people have access to the vaccination as possible to ensure minimal exposure.
References
Logan, Z. (2021, January 27). Georgia to receive more doses of COVID-19 vaccines. Https://Www.Wtoc.Com. https://www.wtoc.com/2021/01/27/georgia-receive-more-doses-covid-vaccines/
Savage, J. (2021, January 29). Georgia medical center suspended from COVID-19 vaccine program. Https://Www.Wtoc.Com. https://www.wtoc.com/2021/01/29/georgia-medical-center-suspended-covid-vaccine-program/
Staff, W. (2021, January 29). Hospice Savannah, Savannah Tech host vaccine clinic. Https://Www.Wtoc.Com. https://www.wtoc.com/2021/01/29/hospice-savannah-savannah-tech-host-vaccine-clinic/
Savannah Morning News Staff. (2021b, January 29). Home. Savannah now. https://eu.savannahnow.com/
GA Dept. of Public Health hiring to control COVID-19 https://www.wjcl.com/article/ga-dept-of-public-health-in-need-of-help-to-control-covid-19.com
COVID-19 and Your Health. (2020b, February 11). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/facts.html
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