The four-week projections of vaccine doses appear in a Feb. 12 bulletin sent to COVID-19 vaccine providers by the Maryland Department of Health.
Local health departments in Maryland are looking at the longer term number of doses of COVID-19 they will receive in the next few weeks – a change that local health officials have been pushing for for a long time and which they say will make it easier to plan and set up vaccination clinics. rig.
The four-week projections of vaccine doses appear in a Feb. 12 bulletin sent to COVID-19 vaccine suppliers by the Maryland Department of Health.
But while the projections offer greater visibility of vaccine doses, the projections show that the doses the health department will receive in the next month will not increase dramatically any time soon – even if provinces in the DC area are still busy. ‘ an overwhelming demand for the shots.
According to the projections, the Department of Health in Montgomery County, Maryland, the state’s population, will receive 4,500 doses of vaccinations each week until March 8.
This is the same number of doses that the country’s health department received last week. However, this is less than the 5,500 received the previous week and only about half as much as the number the country received a month ago.
The number of weekly first doses given to the Department of Health has declined as the state shifts more doses to hospitals and retail pharmacies, such as Giant and Safeway, which are part of the state’s goal of providing a broad infrastructure of ‘all- or ‘to create. above vaccine providers across the state. The forecasts in the bulletin do not contain the amount of doses sent to other providers in each country, but only the departments of health services.
Meanwhile, the health department for Prince George’s County, the state’s second most populous province, will receive 4,200 doses each week through March 8, according to the bulletin.
The Baltimore County Department of Health will receive the highest weekly award: 4,900 doses.
The health department of Anne Arundel County will receive 3,400 doses for the next four weeks; Howard County will receive 1,700 weekly doses; and Charles County will receive 1100 doses.
(See full score below)
The forecasts are based in part on data on incoming doses provided by the federal government.
“We reserve the right to make changes based on what the federal government provides Maryland,” said the bulletin of Bryan Mroz, acting assistant secretary of the Maryland Department of Health.
In general, a total of 31,500 doses of vaccines are expected to be sent to local health departments each week, according to the projections. That’s about a third of the total doses of COVID-19 vaccines Maryland receives from the federal government during a week. The other doses are sent to retail pharmacies and hospitals, but the doses are not included in the projections.
In a letter last week to the leaders of the Maryland Association of Counties, Maryland Acting Secretary Dennis Schrader said that there are a total of 51 retail pharmacies in Maryland that have partnered with the state to deliver vaccinations and that each place received 200 doses per week. , which adds another 10,000 doses.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced the move to give local health departments more information on dosages earlier this week during a news conference.
“Until now, state health officials have had to wait until Thursday, Friday – sometimes even Saturday night – of each week to know what we would assign to someone for next week,” Hogan said during the Feb. 11 news conference.
Last week, leaders from 22 of the state’s jurisdictions wrote to Hogan asking for more transparency about vaccine distribution and asking the state to share weekly vaccine dose estimates with the public and release them earlier.
“Suppliers need more notice to plan logistics, and the public deserves to know how many doses each local supplier has available,” local officials wrote in the letter.
In response, Schrader, the acting health secretary, said the Hogan government had agreed that it would be useful for planning purposes to know what was coming in the pipeline, and said the bottleneck lies with the federal government, which is only a week away. gave notice most self.
The new four-week projections were made possible because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agreed to give states a two-week forecast, Schrader said.
More Coronavirus News
Looking for more information? DC, Maryland and Virginia publish more data every day. Visit their official sites here: Virginia | Maryland | DC
What is the timeline?
The news about the number of doses being sent to health departments comes because local leaders want to promote a sometimes rocky vaccination process.
In Prince George’s County, Angela Alsobrooks, chief executive, has promised a series of corrections to speed up vaccinations in the country. While the province is home to the Six Flags Vaccination Clinic, the country has struggled to vaccinate its own population.
As of Monday, about 47,000 residents had their first shots – only about 5% of the country’s population.
In neighboring Montgomery County, which has an overwhelming demand for appointments, more than 106,000 residents got their first shots – more than 10% of the population.
Around the DC region, the focus remains mostly on vaccinating the oldest and most vulnerable residents.
Regarding when the vaccines will be more widely available to members of the general public, Montgomery County officials, for example, have been reluctant to provide a time frame, given the persistently low supply.
Montgomery County CEO Marc Elrich said last week, given the province’s allocation of doses, it could take another ten weeks to vaccinate residents 75 years and older.
But one local health department is giving a little more clarity on a possible timeline.
In a Feb. 14 update on its website, the health department of Anne Arundel County set out a loose timeline for the next phase of vaccination. According to the website, the health department of Anne Arundel County expects to start vaccinations under phase 1c in the period March-April. These include people 65-74, patients with immune use in hospital treatment, grocery stores and postal workers.
The province’s timeline provides for phase 2 of the vaccination of the vaccine in April or May. This phase includes adults under 65 with high-risk conditions and other types of essential workers, such as construction workers, bank tellers and members of the media.
Phase 3, which includes everyone 16 and older, is expected to begin in May or June.
Number of weekly doses to be sent to local health departments in Maryland during the week of March 8
Population data were researched by WTOP using data from the US Census Bureau and are estimates for 2019
- Allegany County Department of Health – 500 doses (population: 70,416)
- Anne Arundel County Health Department – 3,400 doses (population: 579,234)
- Baltimore City Health Department – 2,000 doses (population: 593,490)
- Baltimore County Health Department – 4900 doses (population: 827,370)
- Calvert County Health Department – 500 doses (population: 92,525)
- Caroline County Department of Health – 300 doses (population: 33406)
- Carroll County Department of Health – 1,000 doses (population: 168,447)
- Cecil County Department of Health – 900 doses (population: 102,855)
- Charles County Health Department – 1100 doses (population: 159,428)
- Dorchester County Health Department – 300 doses (population: 32,138)
- Frederick County Health Department – 1,300 doses (population: 251,422)
- Garrett County Health Department – 300 Doses (Population: 29,235)
- Harford County Department of Health – 1,400 doses (population: 252,222)
- Howard County Health Department – 1,700 doses (population: 318,855)
- Kent County Department of Health – 300 doses (population: 19,536)
- Montgomery County Department of Health – 4,500 doses (population: (1,043,530)
- Prince George’s County Department of Health – 4,200 doses (population: 908,670)
- Queen Anne’s County Health Department – 300 doses (population: 49,632)
- Somerset County Health Department – 300 doses (population: 25,616)
- St. Mary’s County Health Department – 800 doses (population: 113,510)
- Talbot County Health Department – 300 doses (population: 37,167)
- Washington County Health Department – 500 doses (population: 150,109)
- Wicomico County Health Department – 700 doses (population: 102,539)
- Worcester County Department of Health – 300 doses (population: 51,765)
Total weekly vaccine doses sent to health departments – 31 500