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District 4 Public Health, which includes the Troup County Health Department, announced that it has begun calling vaccine recipients to schedule their second doses.

Only those people who were vaccinated by District 4 or a county health department will be called. People who were vaccinated through a pharmacy or other private provider must coordinate with said providers to get their second dose. District 4 spokesperson Hayla Folden said the department is using an automatic system to call and text people using the phone number the recipient provided. The recipient should get a voicemail message if they miss the call. If the number is a cell phone, the recipient will also get a text.

Recipients do not have a choice of when and where they will get their second dose — their appointment will be assigned to them, Folden said. The location of their second dose appointment will be in the same county in which they received their first dose.

Folden isn’t sure how quickly people should expect to hear about their next appointment, but said District 4 hopes to contact them a couple weeks in advance, to give recipients time to work it into their schedule.

District 4 has vaccinated more than 11,000 people, Folden said.

If people have to reschedule their follow-up appointment, Folden said to call (762) 888-8180.

Additionally, if people need to change the number on file for them, Folden said to send DPH a message through the contact us page on District 4’s website.

Statewide, 423,011 vaccines have been administered in Georgia. The state is vaccinating people through public health departments and through private partners including Publix, Kroger, Ingles, Walmart, CVS and Walgreens.

Though Georgia more than doubled the number of vaccinated residents last week, it still ranks 49th among states in percentage of people given their first shot, at 1.9 percent according to the New York Times. Alabama ranks last, at 1.8 percent. The national average is 3.2 percent, and the state doing best is West Virginia, at 6.3 percent.