Since the end of January, due to the limited supply of vaccine doses, clinics administered by the county have prioritized residents aged 75 and over for vaccination appointments.
Montgomery County, Maryland officials say they continue to fight rumors and misinformation about who can get the COVID-19 vaccination in the county and the inappropriate sharing of naming links that are disrupting works to vaccinate the most vulnerable residents. County.
Since late January, due to the limited supply of vaccine doses, clinics administered by the county have prioritized only residents aged 75 and over for vaccination appointments.
But social media reports indicated that large groups of people showed up to be vaccinated at one of the county clinics at Richard Montgomery High School on Thursday morning, including teachers and children under 75.
This was apparently the result of improperly shared naming links and misinformation that teachers and visitors were being taken on the spot, according to health officer, Dr. Travis Gayles.
“Apparently, there were a significant number of people who came to one of our sites today – and were not happy when they were rejected,” Gayles said during an online interview with reporters.
The county has made it clear in recent weeks that people who want to be vaccinated at a county-run clinic must first register with the county and be 75 or older, Gayles said.
Part of the problem is that after residents pre-register and receive links to book appointments, those links are shared with others – and in some cases, widely shared.
Gayles said he heard from officials in other counties that links are appearing on group email lists and Listservs, creating a “free for all” rather than the orderly process that local health departments want.
County executive Marc Elrich said link sharing remains an issue. It is “creating confusion in terms of who can actually be vaccinated,” he said – and it is preventing people aged 75 and over from actually getting appointments “because those appointments were made by someone else.”
Naming links are generated by a state-run website, known as PrepMod, which the state requires the county to use. Even if the state system asks users to define their age, it does not exclude them if they are not 75 or older.
Meanwhile, Gayles’ team cannot screen all registrants under 75 years of age, as health professionals are also eligible for vaccination. “We are trying to do the screening,” said Gayles.
More news about Coronavirus
Looking for more information? DC, Maryland and Virginia are rolling out more data every day. Visit their official websites here: Virginia | Maryland | A.D
County officials have been lobbying the state for a software fix for the link sharing problem for weeks, and at least one fix is underway. The system is being adjusted so that each link can only be used by one person.
In the meantime, Gayles and other county officials are asking residents to be responsible: if you are not 75 or older, do not schedule a meeting at a location administered by the county, even if someone shares a link with you.
“We have been very clear about who is eligible and who we are prioritizing in different locations,” said Gayles. “And if you know you don’t meet these criteria, but you still apply, how can you be upset when you come to the place where we remind you that you are not entitled to receive this vaccine? And, in fact, you are creating a system in which you are scheduling a meeting with someone who meets the criteria, and that slows down the process of moving forward. “
Although the state changed eligibility guidelines last month to include those 65 and older, the county is not receiving enough doses from the state to make more widespread vaccinations, said Elrich.
Last week, the county health department received about 5,500 first doses to distribute. This week, the municipality received about 4,500 doses.
Elrich said the county continues to prioritize residents 75 and older, as this group has the highest mortality rate. “They were considered the first priority for a reason,” said Elrich.
So far, over about two and a half weeks, about 27,000 county residents aged 75 and over have received doses of the vaccine, according to county data. But that is just over a third of the county’s total population aged 75 and over.
If the doses delivered to the county do not increase, Elrich said it would take another 10 weeks to finish vaccination for the county’s oldest residents.
To add to the confusion is the growing number of private providers, such as hospitals and pharmacies, that are being supplied with doses of vaccine and can vaccinate those 65 to 74 years old, as well as teachers. (In all, about 10,000 doses a week go to these other providers, county officials said.)
If these other providers, such as hospitals and pharmacies, commit to allocating half their quotas to specifically target those over 75, Elrich said it would take about half the time to finish vaccinating all 75+ eligible residents – about five weeks.
“It will be a very long wait for people if we have to count on the amount of doses that the municipality itself is receiving,” he added.
For now, given the lower numbers of vaccine doses – and there are about 300,000 Montgomery County residents eligible in the first phase of vaccine launch – providing doses to one group instead of another is a zero-sum game.
“That’s the problem with making everyone eligible when the supply is as low as it is,” said Elrich. “We would love to make these vaccines eligible for everyone. We just don’t have the supply to do that. “
Earl Stoddard, director of the county’s homeland security and emergency management office, added: “As much as we hear about other people – teachers who want to get vaccinated, people aged 65 to 74, postmen, grocery workers – we hear the same number of elderly people over 75 who have not yet had an opportunity and are desperate to get it too. And so, every consultation that is made by a teacher, is a consultation that a 75 year old man is not getting. “