Montgomery County, Maryland, officials said on Monday that the state’s vaccine distribution in the state had dropped about 1,000 from the previous week.
Montgomery County, Maryland, officials said on Monday that the state’s vaccine distribution last week fell about 1,000 from the previous week, and “We don’t have a good explanation” why.
That was the word from the county’s Director of Health and Human Services, Dr. Raymond Crowel, during an online meeting on Monday.
Montgomery County Council President Tom Hucker said, “We could vaccinate more than 25,000 residents a week if the state just gave us the doses.”
Hucker, Crowel and the council’s vice president, Gabe Albornoz, also said they were “concerned” – although there is no hard evidence – that mass vaccination sites opened by the state last week are lowering county quotas.
Asked whether Montgomery County was on the list of any mass vaccination sites in the near future, Crowel said, “We discussed the matter” with Governor Larry Hogan, but that “As far as I know, he has not compromised.”
Montgomery County, Hucker said, is home to 17% of Maryland’s population and 73,000 people over 75, who are among the first people who should be vaccinated.
In a statement after the meeting, Mike Ricci, a spokesman for Hogan, said: “Official data shows that the county is still sitting on more than 6,000 first doses now … this gives them a lower administration fee than almost all counties. “
He added that officials were talking about the quota for the public health department and that “local health departments are a facet of an expanding distribution network. Allocations are distributed equally to each county based on the population of all providers. “
On Sunday, the Howard County, Maryland, health department said it had also received a lower quota, 1,700 first doses of the Modern vaccine, on Saturday. “That’s less than 2,000 last week, which was less than 4,500 the week before.” They attributed the decline to “a continuous transition from local health departments that vaccinate their communities to mass regional clinics, retail pharmacies and hospitals that operate clinics.”
Indoor meals
The county council will meet on Tuesday at 10 am to vote on the order of county executive Marc Elrich, which allows indoor meals with a 25% capacity and a 90-minute limit, starting on Sunday. (While it is an executive order, Hucker explained, it needs to be voted on to cover the entire county, including counties.)
The original start date was Tuesday, but Hucker said restaurants needed time to step up operations on Sunday, which is Valentine’s Day and probably a big day for the industry.
Although Hucker said he supported the measure, he added that it was because the looser standards in other communities “eroded” Montgomery County’s mitigation efforts, so it “makes sense” to align.
One stop shop
County officials said they were looking forward to a conference with state Department of Health officials about vaccine distribution, and added that they thought a single method for registering vaccines would be the best way to proceed in the future.
Creating a portal for all Maryland residents to apply for a vacancy in the vaccination queue “would be an ideal framework,” said Crowel, as long as there was a way to address equity in older and underserved populations.
Even a single portal system at the county level “would make things a lot simpler,” he said, rather than the current system where people can sign up for the county, with private providers and more.
Albornoz agreed, calling the current system “immensely frustrating” and leading to “chaos” at “a level I haven’t seen in government for 14 years”.
“Anyone with digital access and fast fingers” can go to the state website, said Crowel.
“Whoever has a car and a way out of work,” added Hucker.
Albornoz also said that a one-stop-shop system would be better for those who do not speak English, who do not have technological capabilities and who do not have hours to wait.
Teachers
Crowel said county teachers are being called on to get vaccines according to a priority list provided by the school department.
That said, he encouraged teachers to find their own vaccines, if possible: “I wouldn’t tell anyone to just wait in line. … if it takes a while … I think it’s appropriate. “
He added that he had “very useful conversations” with the Vaccine Hunters group, which helps people negotiate the process. They had “some success,” said Crowel, and “We are absolutely looking to increase that relationship.”
Hucker also said the team of workers who helped Montgomery County residents to register for the 2020 Census has been reformed to address communities to identify where the reach should be directed.
Hucker added that the state leadership has improved COVID-19’s financial aid package to $ 1.9 billion, but “is still somewhat insufficient”, and hopes that the House will improve the Senate bill.
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