Coronavirus Vaccine: When You'll Be Eligible In Anne Arundel

ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, MD — As more Marylanders become eligible for the coronavirus vaccine, many Anne Arundel County residents wonder when they can get the shot. The Anne Arundel County Department of Health released a draft timeline for its immunization effort.

These dates are only estimates, and they could change depending on vaccine allocation. The groups included in each stage could also shift based upon recommendations from the Maryland Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"The COVID-19 vaccine along with other prevention measures will help stop the spread of the virus in our communities," Anne Arundel County Health Officer Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman said in a press release. "Initial vaccine allocations are limited, so we must prioritize how the vaccine will be distributed, based on guidance from the CDC and the Maryland Department of Health."

Everybody who still wants an immunization must head to aacounty.org/covidvax or call (410) 222-3663 on weekdays, regardless of what stage they fall into. By filling out some basic information, locals can reserve their spot in line, no matter how far down the list they currently are.

When residents are eligible, health officials will email them a link to schedule their inoculation. This may take a few weeks to a few months, County Executive Steaurt Pittman warned.

"Please be patient," Pittman said. "There are hundreds of thousands of county residents who need to be vaccinated."

Phase 1A

The vaccine rollout has five phases: 1A, 1B, 1C, 2 and 3. The following residents were part of stage 1A. Though Maryland has already opened the door to more locals, these people can still get the inoculation:

• Health care workers
• Public health employees
• Residents and staff of nursing homes
• First responders
• Judiciary employees
• Corrections staffers

Phase 1B

The state entered phase 1B of vaccination last Monday. That enables these Marylanders to get the inoculation:

• Anybody age 75 and older
• Residents of congregate living facilities
• School staff
• Those needed for continuity of government
• Child-care providers

Gov. Larry Hogan reminded Marylanders that the state does not need to vaccinate everybody in each phase before moving on to the next. Though more people are eligible now, Anne Arundel County is still catching up on priority groups.

"Due to limited vaccine supplies, we are first scheduling appointments for Phase 1A & those age 75+," the Anne Arundel County Department of Health said in an email.

Phase 1C

Maryland will allow counties to vaccinate residents in stage 1C, starting this Monday. Anne Arundel, however, doesn't expect to fully this phase until March.

The county is still working on vaccinating its 40,000 locals age 75 and older. This will take some time, as the Department of Health gets about 5,000 doses each week.

When the county reaches stage 1C, residents age 65 to 74 will be first in line. Frontline workers in these industries will also be eligible, though employees in the previous groups will still take priority:

• Food and Agriculture
• U.S. Postal Service
• Manufacturing
• Groceries
• Public Transit

Phase 2

Anne Arundel County hopes to reach phase 2 sometime in April. Those age 16 to 64 with high-risk medical conditions will then be eligible. Essential workers in these fields will then file in:

• Transportation and logistics
• Water and wastewater
• Food
• Shelter/ housing/ construction
• Finance/ banking
• Information technology and communication
• Energy
• Legal services
• Media
• Public safety/ engineering
• Other workers with public-facing responsibilities

Phase 3

Anne Arundel County targets a May start to the third and final wave of immunization. That brings everybody else age 16 to 64 into the mix.

For more information on Anne Arundel County's plan, click here. To catch up on the latest coronavirus infection and vaccination trends in the county, read Patch's latest update.

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Have a story idea? Please contact me at jacob.baumgart@patch.com with any pitches, tips or questions. Follow me on Twitter @JacobBaumgart and on Facebook @JacobBaumgartJournalist to stay up-to-date with the latest Anne Arundel County and Prince George's County news.