MD Sets Vaccination Record Before Slowdown In Doses: Gov. Hogan

MARYLAND — As Maryland scales up its infrastructure to support mass vaccination efforts, Gov. Larry Hogan said a disruption in the supply chain is slowing the state's ability to protect residents from COVID-19.

"We are in a race between variants and vaccines," Hogan said at a news conference Friday.

Maryland has put in place infrastructure that would allow for 100,000 vaccines to be administered in one day, and he reported Friday the state hit a record-high of over 80,000 vaccines given out Thursday. He said the effort was to vaccinate people before the variants spread to Maryland.

"It's popping up in regions as it has throughout this crisis," Hogan said. "It goes from one part of the country to the other. Now the entire Northeast it lit up, and we're the only ones who aren't."

Viruses constantly mutate as they replicate over and over, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which tracks the coronavirus variants on its website. The CDC advises the COVID-19 variants "seem to spread more easily and quickly," which could lead to an increase in cases of the virus.

"We don't have a magic wall that's going to keep it out," Hogan said of the variants spreading from New England and Pennsylvania. Instead, he said vaccines were the best defense.

"That's why we've given 82,000 shots yesterday. It's why we signed up 100,000 people on our mass vaccination website yesterday," Hogan said. "It's why, this week, I opened up two more mass vaccination sites, and I'm opening two more next week."

Maryland has announced these mass vaccination sites:

• Anne Arundel County — Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium (opening week of April 12)
• Baltimore — M&T Bank Stadium
• Baltimore County — Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium
• Charles County — Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf
• Frederick County — Frederick Community College (opening week of April 12)
• Harford County — Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen (opening April 22, drive-thru)
• Howard County — The Mall in Columbia
• Montgomery County — Montgomery College in Germantown
• Prince George’s County — Greenbelt Metro Station (FEMA-operated, for county residents)
• Prince George's County — Six Flags America
• Washington County — Hagerstown Premium Outlets at the former Wolf Furniture store
• Wicomico County — Wicomico Youth & Civic Center in Salisbury

"There are thousands of people working around the clock" on vaccines at the same time as the variants are spreading, he said.

Authorities said more than 3.27 million Marylanders have been vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Friday, April 9, after the Maryland Department of Health reported a record-high 82,068 new vaccinations Thursday.

More than 650,000 Marylanders have preregistered for appointments at a mass vaccination site, the governor's office reported Friday, April 9.

Hogan opened preregistration to all Marylanders age 16 and up Tuesday, April 6. People can preregister using the state's one-stop mass vaccination website: https://onestop.md.gov/govax.

Those without internet can call Maryland’s COVID-19 Vaccination Support Center at 1-855-MD-GOVAX (1-855-634-6829).

Walk-Up Vaccine Sites Available

The Hagerstown, Salisbury, and M&T Bank Stadium mass vaccination sites are offering walk-up, no-appointment vaccinations.

About 200 slots will be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily for walk-up vaccination requests.

J&J Vaccine Slows Down Efforts

While the governor said he hoped to have much of the state vaccinated by April and May, he said "now it's going to be a little slower" because of a problem with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

About 15 million J&J vaccines were tainted at a Baltimore facility run by biopharmaceutical company Emergent BioSolutions, hampering efforts to obtain authorization from the Food and Drug Administration to distribute its COVID-19 vaccines.

Hogan said he had been assured by the White House there would be no disruption in the supply chain.

“Then all of a sudden they go, 'whoops, you're going to be 250,000 [doses] short for the next three weeks,' so it's very frustrating,” Hogan said. “I know everybody's trying to do their best to fix the problem" and "they've committed that we will still by the end of May get the doses that they were anticipating."

Said Hogan: "Hopefully they'll be able to catch up in May."

At a White House briefing Friday, The New York Times reported officials said the J&J vaccine supply that had been expected next week had been scaled back by 86 percent.

Another Maryland company, Novavax, was working on a COVID-19 vaccine, as well, Hogan said hopefully.

As far as what caused the slowdown with J&J, "I still don't know," the governor said.

It was not the only problem state health officials had been trying to resolve, he said, mentioning the federal government had been misrepresenting doses it gave to the state, skewing numbers by saying shots it gave to Maryland-based federal facilities like Walter Reed Medical Center were allocated to Maryland.

Vaccination Efforts: Nearly 80% Of Seniors Vaccinated

So far, 46 percent of Maryland residents over age 18 have received at least one shot, and the number is 78.5 percent when it comes to Marylanders age 65 and older, according to the governor. He said Maryland is 13th nationally as far as vaccinating its residents, based on data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"We’ve built this incredible infrastructure," Hogan said, for administering vaccines.

By Monday, April 12, all providers in the state — such as pharmacies and local health departments — will be required to administer shots to people 16 and up.

Those 16 and 17 years old will only be allowed to use clinics that offer the Pfizer vaccine, as it is the only one that is currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for ages 16 and older.

All Marylanders age 16 and older can now preregister for an appointment at a mass vaccination site by visiting covidvax.maryland.gov or calling 1-855-MD-GOVAX (1-855-634-6829).

See Also:

• COVID-19 Vaccine Open To Marylanders 16 And Up Starting April 6
• 15M Johnson & Johnson Vaccines Tainted, Made In Baltimore: Report
• New MD Daily Vaccine Record, 60K COVID-19 Shots On Average

Patch editors Deb Belt and Alessia Grunberger contributed to this report.