Montgomery County, Maryland officials say they hope to start rolling out the coronavirus vaccine to people 75 and older under Phase 1b of the state’s vaccination plans, but demand is still outpacing the meager supply of vaccines provided by the state.
Montgomery County, Maryland officials say they hope to start rolling out the coronavirus vaccine to people 75 and older under Phase 1b of the state’s vaccination plans, but demand is still outpacing the meager supply of vaccines provided by the state.
Since a pre-registration site for people aged 75 and over went live last Friday, more than 68,000 people have signed up to be alerted by the county when appointments for seniors begin.
Meanwhile, while the county continued to vaccinate thousands of health workers, the county received just 7,300 new first doses of the coronavirus vaccine this week, officials said.
It is an impossible math problem that is leading to the frustration of both county officials and residents who are eager to try.
“If I seem frustrated by this, know that my real frustration is ten times greater than what you are seeing now,” said Dr. Travis Gayles, a county health officer. “The system is not able to do what we need. “
He estimated that there are more than 70,000 people aged 75 and over in the county eligible for the coronavirus vaccine, and another 170,000 to 280,000 people over 65.
“And I’m getting 7,000 doses a week to distribute. The math doesn’t work, ”said Gayles, adding:“ We are working hard to get your doses. Trust me; we don’t want to send anyone away. We want everyone to be covered immediately, so that you are protected. But we are working with limited resources. “
Gayles said he was “hopeful” that the county will be able to move forward with vaccinating people aged 75 and over next week.
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
State supply of limited doses
Overall, Maryland receives about 72,000 doses of the federal government’s coronavirus vaccine each week – a number that is unlikely to change in the coming weeks.
Of that number, only about half are disbursed to the two dozen local health departments in Maryland for them to distribute to the public, officials said.
However, Governor Larry Hogan has recently changed to expand eligibility requirements. This week, under these new guidelines, Maryland residents aged 75 and over were eligible to be vaccinated. Next week, starting on January 25, people aged 65 to 74 will be eligible under state guidelines.
Montgomery County officials were clear: they don’t have enough vaccine doses to start vaccinating older adults this week, even though other jurisdictions, like Prince George County, have acted to do so.
“Then he will create a group that thinks he is immediately eligible for the vaccine,” said Elrich of the governor’s announcements. “They it is eligible, but he is not increasing the amount of vaccine beyond 7,000 new doses. So, I can put you on a line that you weren’t before. But that does not mean that you will be vaccinated faster, unless the number of vaccines we receive actually increases. “
What happened at Quince Orchard?
Massive demand and extremely limited supply have led to some confusion, and even a potential leap in line, for access to the vaccine.
Several older adults, who had evidently had consultations in the state system, were prevented from going to the county’s vaccination site at Quince Orchard High School on Thursday morning.
Authorities said people who were refused were in the 75-year-old age group and have not yet been vaccinated in the county because of the low supply.
Gayles said the health department is still investigating how they managed to make appointments in the first place, but it appears that the email links were shared inappropriately.
The link to make appointments is through a state system designed to administer the flu vaccine, said Earl Stoddard, director of the county’s Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. Anyone with a link can make an appointment, and the system has no functionality to automatically filter people.
For now, links to make appointments are still limited to health professionals being vaccinated in Phase 1a.
“What is happening is that people – healthcare providers, probably – believe that they are helping the community by sharing the link,” said Stoddard, adding: “They are doing the community a great disservice by sharing this link, slowing down the system. “
The county is working to ensure that vaccinations are done fairly and equitably, “not based on what you know or what you can access in terms of getting a link,” said Gayles.
The authorities emphasized that people 75 years or older who pre-registered will receive a communication directly from the county with a link to register for a vaccination appointment, when available.
“Some people were simply doing what they thought was appropriate, because someone sent them a link,” said Wales. “But I will say this very clearly to anyone who is using the links unscrupulously or trying to register in advance: We will have zero tolerance for this behavior.”
Gayles said he sympathized with state health officials, who are responsible for distributing the relatively small number of doses of the vaccine.
“” They are having to thread many needles based on a limited supply from the federal government, ”said Gayles.
But Stoddard said the “allocations are totally uneven”, given the general population of Montgomery County and the number of health professionals who qualified for the vaccine in the first phase of the vaccine’s launch.
Stoddard said that the state’s measures to expand eligibility across the state, although supply has not increased, it appears that the state is saying: “’We will just pit 30% of the population against each other and make them compete for seats , ‘”, Adding,“ We just don’t believe it is a fair and equitable way of distributing vaccines ”.