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News Articles: Kathleen Toomey

Bibb County middle school student Sade Veal gets her first dose of the Pfizer COVID vaccine at a back to school event sponsored by Bibb County Schools.

Tagged as: 

  • Children's Health

Georgia's head of public health says she's afraid vaccine politics could revive eradicated diseases

Senate bills 372 and 345, have been promoted as being explicitly about stopping mandated proof of COVID vaccination to access government services. But neither mentions COVID and could broadly affect vaccine mandates altogether. 

February 09, 2022
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship
Kathleen Toomey

Tagged as: 

  • News

In 2019, Georgia's health chief feared a global pandemic. She said 'I don't think we're prepared'

In a sweeping interview with GPB News, Commissioner of Public Health Kathleen Toomey touched on everything from the emotional toll the pandemic has taken on public health staff to widespread vaccine hesitancy across all racial groups in Georgia. 

 

December 15, 2021
|
By:
  • Riley Bunch
Tammi Brown, Chatham County Health Department Nurse Manager, was among the first in Georgia to receive the vaccine against COVID-19, as Memorial University Medical Center emergency room nurse David Wilson awaits another dose and Gov. Brian Kemp and State Sen. Ben Watson look on.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

The first COVID-19 shots arrived a year ago. Just 50% of Georgians are fully vaccinated

Public health and government officials sighed with relief when COVID-19 vaccinations came to Coastal Georgia last December. The first 84,000 doses were set aside for those working in health care, including Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the commissioner for the Georgia Department of Public Health.  

She spoke after receiving her first shot, saying vaccination felt like the "light at the end of a tunnel" after a long, hard year.

December 14, 2021
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
DPH Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey and Gov. Brian Kemp stand at a podium in the Georgia Capitol Sept. 30, 2021.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Monoclonal Antibody Treatment Still Available To Georgians With COVID-19, But Cases Are Down

Georgians still have access to monoclonal antibody infusions despite a recent change in the distribution model, Gov. Brian Kemp said during a briefing at the state Capitol on Thursday. And DPH Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey said fully vaccinated Georgians who feel they are at risk should consider getting a booster shot if they were fully vaccinated with the Pfizer brand.

September 30, 2021
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Toomey

Tagged as: 

  • Health

State's Top Public Health Official Tears Up, Thanks Workers For Continuing Despite Being 'Ridiculed'

Georgia Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the state's top public health official, broke down in tears Tuesday as she thanked public health workers for their work in the pandemic. She praised the workers for continuing to do "incredible" work, even though "we're not only not valued, we're ridiculed."

September 14, 2021
|
By:
  • Wayne Drash
Gov. Brian Kemp speaks at a press conference.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Kemp Says Georgians Can Choose Not To Get Vaccinated, But They May Die Of COVID-19

Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday may have, perhaps, made his most direct plea for Georgians to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

"I mean, the numbers do not lie; 95% of the people in the hospital with COVID-19 have not been vaccinated," Kemp told reporters during a news conference. "And I would urge you to do that. That is what we need to unite and focus on instead of having, you know, different mandates and all that."

August 30, 2021
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
An illustration of two giant scissors cutting Georgia in half.

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

Political Rewind: Lawmakers Prepare To Redraw District Maps — And Georgians Plea For Fair Process

With census data now in the hands of state legislators, preparations for the upcoming reapportionment special session can begin. We spoke to a member of the House redistricting committee to hear what the learned from listening sessions with Georgians about how they’d like to see the process of drawing new maps unfold.

August 18, 2021
|
By:
  • Bill Nigut ,
  • Emilia Brock ,
  • and 1 more
Kemp

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Kemp Boosts Support To Hospitals, Incentivizes State Employees To Get Vaccinated Amid COVID Swell

Gov. Brian Kemp announced Monday the state will send additional resources to hospitals battling a new wave of COVID-19 patients. 

August 16, 2021
|
By:
  • Riley Bunch
Used COVID-19 vaccination syringes used to administer the Pfizer vaccine are shown in a container Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021, at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System campus in Seattle.

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

Political Rewind: Vaccines, Variants And Varying Inoculation Rates In Pandemic's Second Summer

Thursday on Political Rewind: Overall, the pandemic’s grip on the state has loosened. New cases and hospitalizations have fallen to new lows, and deaths from the virus have become far more rare. As a result, Gov. Brian Kemp lifted the restrictions he had imposed more than a year ago. But Georgia remains in the lower tier of states for putting shots in arms, especially in rural areas.

July 08, 2021
|
By:
  • Bill Nigut ,
  • Emilia Brock ,
  • and 1 more
Gov. Brian Kemp and DPH Commissioner Kathleen Toomey

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Georgia Public Health Board To Resume Regular Meetings After COVID-19 Pause

The advisory board for the state’s public health agency plans to resume its regular public meetings this fall after not holding any since before the COVID-19 pandemic first reached Georgia early last year.

June 02, 2021
|
By:
  • Jill Nolin
A nurse holds a vial of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Want A COVID-19 Vaccine? Georgians Can Call Hotline To Find Out When

Residents and staff in long-term health care facilities are currently being inoculated with the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. While this population makes up only 5% of coronavirus cases in the state, residents in these facilities make up more than 37% of the deaths from COVID-19 in Georgia, according to the state health department.

December 28, 2020
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Georgia's drug surveillance team said in a June 19 memo that emergency room visits for suspected drug overdose are increasing.

Increase In Suspected Drug Overdoses In Georgia Amid COVID-19

Emergency rooms across Georgia are seeing more suspected drug overdoses, raising concerns the state is beginning to see an exacerbated epidemic emerge...

June 26, 2020
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Georgia Department of Public Health Commissioner Kathleen Toomey answers questions at a COVID-19 briefing at the Georgia State Capitol.

Kemp, Toomey Ask For Patience After String Of COVID-19 Data Errors

Georgia’s coronavirus dashboard has seen a number of data reporting issues in recent weeks, but Gov. Brian Kemp is asking Georgians to be patient with...

May 21, 2020
|
By:
  • Stephen Fowler
Dr. Robert Redfield Jr., director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CDC Director Says HIV Can Be Eradicated In Georgia

Metro Atlanta has some of the highest rates of new HIV infection in the country right now, but the director of the Centers for Disease Control and...

December 11, 2019
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge

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