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Thursday on Political Rewind: First lady Jill Biden is\xa0in Savannah today. Her visit is designed to encourage younger Georgians to become vaccinated against COVID-19. The Georgia Department of Public Health reports that only 6% of those between ages 12 and 15 have been fully vaccinated, even as the new school year approaches at the end of the summer break.\n\nCompared to other states, overall rates of immunization remain low in Georgia. Only 39% of residents are fully vaccinated, according to health department data.\xa0Low vaccination rates continue to be\xa0a concern as epidemiologists consider how best to contain the virus.\xa0\n\n"This is really a pandemic of unvaccinated people," journalist Keren Landmen said.\xa0"The more spread we have among unvaccinated people \u2014 it's not just that there are consequences for [the unvaccinated], but there are also consequences for the virus. It gets more fit and more able to evade the defenses that vaccinated people have."\n\nOverall, the pandemic\u2019s grip on the state has loosened.\xa0New cases and hospitalizations have fallen to new lows, and deaths from the virus have become far more rare. As a result, Gov. Brian\xa0Kemp\xa0lifted the restrictions he had imposed more than a year ago.\n\nBut because Georgia remains in the lower\xa0tier of states for putting shots in arms, especially in rural areas, how should public health officials respond to this latest stage of the pandemic? And what are\xa0best practices for the public as current rates of infection, and vaccination, remain low?\n\nPanelists:\n\nDr. Carlos del Rio \u2014\xa0Executive Associate Dean, Emory School of Medicine and\xa0Grady Health System\n\nDr. Keren Landmen \u2014\xa0Epidemiologist,\xa0Health Journalist\n\nAndy Miller \u2014\xa0Editor, Georgia Health News\n\nKevin Riley\xa0\u2014 Editor, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution