No matter where you look, the demand is incredibly high and the supply of vaccines is extremely limited.
Montgomery County, Maryland, officials are clearing up the confusion over how to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in the county amid the scant supply and the growing number of hospitals and grocery stores that have received doses of vaccine for distribution.
While there are several ways to get the vaccine, there is no single door through which county residents can queue for the first available appointment.
People who qualify for the vaccine and want to make an appointment need to pre-register in the county – for a place in a county-run clinic – or check multiple websites run by different individual providers to see if there are any vacancies.
One thing to note: no matter where you look, the demand is incredibly high and the supply of vaccines is extremely limited.
“There have been a lot of finger pointing, and pointing the finger doesn’t help; it won’t solve anything, ”county executive Marc Elrich said at a news conference on Wednesday discussing county vaccination efforts. “What I want people to understand in the community is that no one is denying them the vaccine … People need to understand that if they cannot enter the program today, it has nothing to do with someone not wanting to vaccinate them. .. it’s just – they ran out of slots. “
Health department prioritizing over 75 years
Overall, of the 18,825 first doses provided by the state to Montgomery County providers this week, the county health department received 5,500.
Although people aged 65 and over are eligible to receive vaccines according to state guidelines, county health clinics are only vaccinating people aged 75 and over.
If you are 75 or older, you can pre-register for an appointment with the county health department, and the county will contact you when there is an open appointment. As of this week, there were more than 50,000 people aged 75 and over who were already pre-registered.
Elrich said the priority for county-run clinics in the short term will remain the population aged 75 and over, who has seen the highest mortality rates from coronavirus.
Only after a considerable number of people aged 75 and over have been vaccinated will the county begin moving on to the next stages, he said.
“We are trying to make people realize that there must be an orderly progression; there is a reason why it was set up like that, ”said Elrich. “And I feel the frustration.”
If you are 65 or older, which falls under Phase 1c of the state’s vaccine launch, you can pre-register in the county too, but authorities are warning that it will take time to vaccinate the county population over 75 years old, so they are asking for patience.
(Other people can also register on the county website if they meet certain criteria, such as teachers or other essential frontline workers. The county says that you should only pre-register at this point if you are in Phases 1b and 1c.)
Elrich also announced on Wednesday that eligible county residents and Montgomery County Public Schools officials can begin receiving their vaccines from Johns Hopkins Medicine. It is part of an effort to help prepare for the reopening of schools.
Elrich said in a statement that Maryland has given Johns Hopkins Medicine 8,775 doses for Montgomery County, which will be used to vaccinate county residents over 65 who have received care from Johns Hopkins Medicine providers in the past two years, as well as Employees MCPS.
When there are vacancies available and it is your turn, the county will send you an email with a link to schedule an appointment. But county officials are clear: don’t share the appointment link with others. That’s because anyone with the link can set up a meeting – including people who aren’t included in the county’s current priority groups.
The link to schedule a meeting will come directly from the email address “[email protected]”.
Elrich said there were cases of people in their 20s and 30s who signed up to schedule vaccines because of improperly shared links. “They are getting vaccines from people who are at the highest priorities in the state and we need people not to do that,” he said.
In addition, a vaccination post administered by the state government, which was previously used to schedule other types of immunizations, has been a “big problem” because it allows people to make appointments even if they do not meet the municipality’s criteria.
The state health secretary said Tuesday that a fix for the site is in progress.
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Other places to get vaccinated
There are several other locations that offer COVID-19 vaccines in Montgomery County.
In partnership with the state, four locations of the city’s Giant Pharmacy began offering vaccination consultations this week. Each pharmacy location is scheduled to receive about 400 doses of vaccine this week.
Consultations are being scheduled online. However, on Wednesday, a message on the Giant website said: “There are currently no bookings for the COVID-19 vaccine available. Please, come back later. We appreciate your patience while opening as many queries as possible. “
Suburban Hospital, in partnership with Johns Hopkins University, has 8,875 doses of vaccines to distribute. The hospital is providing vaccines for its patients aged 65 and over, as well as vaccines for teachers in Montgomery County. There are three locations, including in Germantown, the Suburban campus in Bethesda and the Applied Physics Laboratory, which is actually in Howard County.
Adventist Healthcare is offering vaccine consultations to healthcare professionals and people aged 65 and over at three locations. As of Wednesday afternoon, there were no vaccination appointments available.
Holy Cross Hospital is prioritizing healthcare professionals and people aged 75 and over. The next blocks of consultations will be released on Thursday at 16:00. More information on the hospital website.
Kaiser Permanent Gaithersburg received 1,950 doses. Kaiser Permanente patients aged 75 and over must complete a questionnaire with their kp.org username and password.
More information is available on the hospital’s website.
Why employees ask for caution
County leaders said they understood that people are eager to be vaccinated, but urged caution about shopping.
“By over-logging and trying to saturate the system, you block queries that can be shared with others,” said Montgomery County Health Officer, Dr. Travis Gayles, but added, “We recognize the frustration.”
He said it is a function of the current inadequate supply of vaccine doses, but that county officials are asking residents not to register for multiple consultations if they can, “recognizing, however, that there is a lot of anxiety and a lot of desire to get vaccines in any way, shape or form they can. “
At the very least, if you sign up for multiple sites and actually get an appointment on one of them, “cancel the other opportunities or make it clear that you will not accept the other opportunity, then you are not reserving vacancies that you do not intend to use,” said Earl Stoddard , director of the county’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
There have already been some absences at county clinics. “And these are missed opportunities,” he added.
The county is also considering sharing its list of people who have previously registered with other providers.
“We hope that other providers will accept from our pre-registration list, because, obviously, this is an easy way for them to find people interested in receiving the vaccine,” said Stoddard.