An agreement Thursday between the state and the Medical Center of Elberton came a day after the Department of Public Health set out the penalties for vaccine providers who give shots to people not on the priority list.

The Medical Center of Elberton will be able to renew general vaccinations in mid-March, instead of late July as in the original order, according to a letter from Dr. Kathleen Toomey, the state’s Public Health commissioner.

Potential offenses targeted by the state include vaccinations done “outside of Georgia’s current phase as reflected on DPH’s website, except as set forth in the Accountability and Waste Avoidance Policy to avoid wasting vaccine.’’

Other penalties pertain to providers who:

♦ Fail to report vaccine administration data into GRITS within 24 hours of administration.

♦ Knowingly vaccinate people who do not live or work in Georgia.

♦ Refuse to vaccinate an eligible person from a different Georgia county than the provider.

♦ Fail to use all reasonable efforts to administer a second dose to vaccine recipients who received a first dose from the provider.

The Medical Association of Georgia issued a statement Friday that said “Physicians understand that the COVID-19 vaccine is in short supply and that there needs to be an orderly and scientifically sound process for the distribution and administration of the vaccine.

“Physicians share the Georgia Department of Public Health’s enthusiasm to vaccinate every Georgian as soon as possible, and they are abiding by DPH’s vaccine administration priority categories and other requirements