Montgomery County officials are asking the state of Maryland to establish a COVID-19 mass vaccination facility in the state.
Montgomery County officials are asking the state of Maryland to establish a COVID-19 mass vaccination facility in the country amid “significant concern” about how the state is allocating an increasingly limited number of shots.
Provincial health officer, dr. Travis Gayles, who has expressed concern about a declining share of vaccine doses being sent to the provincial health department in favor of other providers such as pharmacies, has asked state health officials for a mass vaccination site in the country to consider.
“We have websites. Let’s talk about it, ‘Gayles said, proposing the country’s fair as one option for a mass vaccination site.
Gayles spoke at a nationwide hearing Tuesday that also included Maryland’s deputy health minister, Jinlene Chan.
A mass vaccination site opened in Six Flags America in neighboring Prince George County on Friday and is carrying out 2,000 vaccinations a day. Although shots were reserved for Prince George’s County residents on the first day, the site is now open to all Marylanders – though appointments are limited.
“It’s incredibly challenging to expect our residents to go to another jurisdiction and accept that they will have access there,” Gayles said.
However, as an alternative to opening a separate mass vaccination center in Montgomery County, Gayles also suggested that a certain percentage of appointment slots at Six Flags specifically for Montgomery County residents be set aside.
Three members of the land council also pressured Chan to commit to the establishment of a mass vaccination facility in the country.
“It’s illogical not to have something like this in the largest jurisdiction in the state,” said Nancy Navarro, councilor representing District 4.
Chan said the state is open to considering additional mass vaccination sites, but that he has not made any promises to councilors.
In addition to the Six Flags website in Prince George’s County, another website opened at the Baltimore Convention Center last week.
Other sites are already planned on the eastern shore, and in southern and western Maryland.
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Defense of state allocations
During her appearance, Chan defended the distribution of vaccines in Montgomery County, saying that sending vaccine doses to various retail pharmacies and hospitals – which led to the doses being cut to the Department of Health – was about building infrastructure. for the limited amount of doses increases significantly.
‘Increasing doses to Giant and Safeway pharmacies, as well as hospitals across the country, are part of our strategy for a longer range to begin to establish the foundation of vaccination capacity across the state,’ ‘Chan said.
The state follows a ‘whole-province approach’ to decide where and how much of the vaccine doses should be distributed – not only to local health departments but also to other providers.
Amid concerns that vaccines would not be accessible to the defenseless, Chan said the civil servant took equity into account when deciding which pharmacies to work with to distribute the vaccines.
“We looked at where COVID-19 communities were most affected, as well as racial and socio-economic status within specific zip codes and such, and used it to guide some of the initial choices,” Chan said, adding: “what what we are trying to do is establish several low access points for vaccination. ”
But Gayles said the increased doses sent to other providers at the expense of the province-controlled doses are worrying because, according to him, local health departments show a better record than retail pharmacies in getting people into their arms.
This week, the country’s supply of vaccine doses decreased from 5,500 to 4,500.
Last week, the country received more than 7,000 first doses of vaccines in just a few weeks.
Get Montgomery Co. his rightful part?
Councilors pressured Chan on the overall vaccine dose allotment in the province, arguing that Montgomery County did not appear to be achieving its share.
Council President Tom Hucker pointed to the state’s own data, which he said showed that the five largest jurisdictions in the state – Montgomery, Prince George, Baltimore and Anne Arundel and Baltimore City counties – receive the least doses per capita.
Five of the smallest provinces – Kent, Somerset, Garrett, Talbot and Caroline – receive the most doses per capita.
“It would be a big problem if we were just talking about something like transport dollars, but it’s unscrupulous since we’m talking about vaccines,” Hucker said.
Chan said the difference per capita stems from the early days of the vaccination effort late last year. The state has instituted a “floor” of 300 doses per week due to the limited supply.
“It does seem to be proportionally larger” for smaller provinces, she acknowledged, but added that the state continues to “develop the process.”
No single reporting site, says the state
State health officials were also encouraged to make a single, nationwide note to register for a vaccine appointment in Maryland.
At-Large council member Evan Glass said he had heard of provincial residents registering at every hospital and pharmacy and desperately looking for an open appointment.
“Why doesn’t the state take a more centralized approach to registration, a one-stop shop where people can enter all their information and then assign it to one of the vaccine providers in their area?” he asked.
Heather Shek, deputy director of the Office of Government Affairs at the Department of Health in Maryland, said she acknowledges the frustration of Marylanders by not being able to access appointments. But she said only four other states use a central system to plan vaccinations.
“So I think the idea that Maryland is different and that we need to move toward the system is misinformed because not many other states do,” Shek said. “We have examined the approach and our healthcare system is not set up for a central system.”
Shek said the four states using a centralized system are Oklahoma, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Western Virginia, the latter of which have been praised for the rapid vaccinations.
Shek said he has different ways of making an appointment, each maintained by a separate provider.
“There is no single point of failure,” she added. “If there are multiple options for people to sign up for, move it away from a bottleneck or one major system failure may occur.”
Finally, Shek said the state’s system works because vaccinations are on the rise – from about 2,000 shots fired at the start of the effort to an average of more than 22,000 a day.