CAIRO — Grady County commissioners voted this week to allocate up to $20,000 to the Grady County Emergency Management Agency to begin preparing to administer a coronavirus vaccine on a wide scale.

EMA director Richard Phillips said the Georgia Department of Public Health will be providing most of what the county needs to administer the vaccine once it arrives, whenever that may be, though shelters will still be needed to allow volunteers to continue working through rough weather conditions.

Phillips is unsure which vaccine the county will be receiving, though health officials have told him it will need to be heated before injection.

The money commissioners voted to allocate will be used to purchase drive-through shelters and heaters.

“We’re thinking come first of the year this thing is going to roll out heavy,” Phillips told commissioners. “We’ve got to be ready.”

Phillips also been in contact with Grady County Schools Superintendent Kermit Gilliard to discuss the use of Cairo High School as the county’s primary point of distribution for the vaccine. The distribution site will likely be set up in front of the school’s gym and will be operational after regular business hours and on weekends.

“Folks are working and all that, so they’ve got to get off of work if they want the vaccine,” Phillips said.

A second vaccine distribution site could be set up at the Cairo State Farmer’s Market if demand is high.

County officials are unsure when the vaccine could arrive.

“I talked with (Grady County Health Department director Michelle Thornton) yesterday at the Health Department and she said it’s liable to show up on their front doorstep and they say ‘go give out shots,'” Phillips said.

Healthcare providers who take part in administering the vaccine will be first in line to be inoculated, along with first responders and employees at long-term care facilities.

Across Grady County, 976 cases of the virus have been confirmed as of Friday, an increase of 20 from the same point last week, according to the Georgia Department of Public Heath. Another 155 cases have been diagnosed through rapid-result tests.

Twenty-seven Grady County residents have died of the virus, with another five deaths listed as likely being due to the virus.

A total of 114 people have been hospitalized due to the virus.