ATLANTA — The Biden administration is promising to make more vaccines available, but data shows the state is lagging when it comes to actually vaccinating Georgians.
As of Tuesday, Georgia ranked ninth in the country for total doses delivered, but is close to last when it comes to vaccine allocation.
Health experts say this large gap is delaying getting shots into people's arms.
"That speed is just a real mystery to most of us," said TJ Muehleman who founded the COVID Mapping Project. "It's a combination of efficiency, it's the convoluted system for signing up for vaccinations."
Public health microbiologist Amber Schmidtke echoes those worries.
"It's weird and a little bit concerning that the south, in particular, is struggling the way it is right now, because its us (Georgia) and Alabama that are at the bottom of the rankings," Schmidtke explained.
According to the White House COVID-19 coordinator, since President Joe Biden took office, the number of doses being sent to states has increased by 28% - to 11 million doses a week. An increase both Schmidtke and Muehleman say is necessary in Georgia.
"What the state is reporting this week -- they update every Monday -- our allocation went up 17%, where as last week it went up 20%. So, it actually went down - the doses we're getting," Muehleman said.
They add that we should soon, however, see those numbers change as the Biden administration increases weekly shipments of the vaccine by 5%, sending some directly to pharmacies.
"Bypassing the state ... which I think is smart," Muehleman added. "We've seen, throughout the entire pandemic, a lack of centralized control and centralized distribution. So, relying on the states to distribute the vaccines is relying upon their own internal system, and Georgia clearly has an inadequate system here."
A sign of hope, during a slow vaccine rollout.
"It does seem like there's a little bit more strategic planning going on in this administration, and that's welcome news to see because we've really lacked that at all levels for several months now," Schmidtke said.