North Georgia Health District named Immunization Champions

The North Georgia Health District was recently honored with the 2023 Walt Orenstein Immunization Champions Award at the Immunize Georgia Conference hosted by the Georgia Department of Public Health in Atlanta.

The award recognizes outstanding leadership and impact in immunizing Georgians, and this marks the fifth time the North Georgia Health District received this prestigious honor.

Based in Dalton, the North Georgia Health District oversees public health in Cherokee, Fannin, Gilmer, Murray, Pickens, and Whitfield counties. The district was recognized specifically for the staff’s work to ensure vaccinations are easily accessible and available to all residents, regardless of their ability to pay.

The district’s seven health department locations and two Ryan White Clinics work together to evaluate each patient’s immunizations using the Georgia Registry of Immunization Transactions.

In addition to providing vaccinations in the clinics, the staff works in schools, businesses, colleges, nursing homes, drug rehabilitation centers, and prisons to ensure access to vaccinations and education.

During the recent mpox (monkeypox) epidemic, NGHD staff developed a vaccination campaign targeting at-risk populations, providing free vaccines to those who reported being at risk. They also set up private clinics to meet vaccine demand and sent staff to local centers where possible virus exposures may have existed.

As part of the district’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, NGHD have offered walk-in clinics that do not require appointments for no-cost COVID-19 vaccines at the health departments. District and county staff also organized COVID-19 vaccine clinics at various locations in each community.

Health department staff in Whitfield, Murray, Gilmer, and Cherokee counties visit nursing homes to provide flu and COVID-19 shots, and all health departments in the district conduct local drive-thru flu shot clinics each year.

In 2022, staff administered over 15,000 COVID-19 shots and nearly 9,000 flu shots at various sites, including 70 schools to provide flu shots and on-site vaccination clinics at over 150 businesses.