ATLANTA — Georgia's public health agency is awaiting federal recommendations before setting its own COVID-19 vaccination policy but is willing to "play a larger leadership role" if there are disagreements, the state's top health official said Tuesday.

Georgia might have to set its own course and priorities and "ensure that accurate information is out" if it disagrees with pending guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and its advisors, state Public Health Commissioner Dr. Kathleen Toomey told the Georgia Board of Public Health at their September meeting.

If federal leadership is "absent" on the vaccination question, she said, "we have to step up and make sure that the public is being served."

Toomey's message was delivered as reassurance after misgivings were expressed by several board members.

Dr. James Curran, the board chairman and a former CDC employee, lamented "turmoil" at the federal agency under the new leadership of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Curran said Kennedy's employee dismissals have culled the next generation of scientists at the CDC.

Curran also expressed doubt in the reliability of the CDC's pending COVID-19 vaccine recommendations.

So did board member Dr. Lucky Jain, chair of the Department of Pediatrics at the Emory University School of Medicine. He said faculty with young children have been emailing him with concerns about how to ensure vaccine access. He said they fear Georgia will follow the lead of Florida, which is moving to end all vaccine requirements for school children.

Florida's plan drew criticism from the American Academy of Pediatrics.

"The ripple effect of removing vaccine entry requirements would affect all of us, not just those with children in school," the Florida chapter president, Dr. Rana Alissa, said after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his surgeon general, Dr. Joseph A. Ladapo, announced the new policy.

Jain asked what Georgia was doing "to avoid a situation like what has happened in Florida."

He wanted reassurance that vaccine access "isn't diminished over time in Georgia" and said, perhaps jokingly — his comment drew laughter — "is there something that the board can independently do to petition the governor?"

Toomey responded that she spoke with Gov. Brian Kemp's office about immunization earlier Tuesday.

"I think that there is a huge commitment and understanding of the importance of immunizations, particularly for children — for children's health," Toomey said. "And we intend to continue to carry that message."

Jain also asked for clarity on a statement issued by Toomey's agency last week indicating Georgia was awaiting guidance from the CDC and its Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. Kennedy alarmed many observers by stripping the advisory panel of its members and gradually replacing them with his own picks.

Toomey clarified that she approved her agency's message merely because she was waiting to make vaccine recommendations until seeing the federal guidance, which will affect insurance coverage and liability. She also said the state buys vaccine through a federal program, and it has not yet been shipped.

Georgia is not just saying "well, whatever," she said. "We want to take action when there's something we need to be addressing, and right now we're waiting on that final approval because there are other factors within that that we have to consider."