Mass Vaccination Site Opens At Six Flags; MD Battles Slow Rollout

UPPER MARLBORO, MD — Maryland opened a mass coronavirus vaccination site at Six Flags America on Friday. About 250 patients came to Upper Marlboro for the soft launch.

Health officials drew this first group from the immunization waiting list in Prince George's County. The sign-up is now open to all Marylanders.

Gov. Larry Hogan (R) expects the operation to soon dole out about 2,000 shots per day. When the national production scales up, the site will handle 6,000 daily appointments.

"The county has been the epicenter, in many ways, of this virus," Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) said while she and the governor toured the new facility. "This is a wonderful step in the right direction. All of us are anxious to be protected."

The Baltimore Convention Center also opened a mass vaccination site Friday. Eligible Marylanders can use this website to schedule an appointment at either facility.

The sign-up launched this morning and was immediately flooded with registrants. The state filled all 10,000 available appointments in less than 20 minutes, Hogan informed.

Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium will soon follow with its own large-scale clinic. Three more mass vaccination sites are in the works. They will set up on the Eastern Shore, as well as in Western and Southern Maryland. The exact locations are not yet known.

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Even with these six high-volume locations, many residents complained about the limited number of inoculations. Among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, Maryland ranks 38th in the proportion of residents who have gotten their first dose.

The Six Flags clinic is based in Prince George's County, which has the slowest immunization rollout in the state. About 3.7 percent of the county has gotten the shot. In comparison, leading Worcester County has vaccinated 14 percent of its population.

Maryland has more than 110 places to get the coronavirus vaccine. Eligible locals can get the injection at participating pharmacies, hospitals, clinics, health departments and mass immunization sites. Vaccinators will visit nursing homes and long-term care facilities to help their residents.

Hogan wants to grow this network. He hopes to eventually have "thousands of vaccinators all across the state."

"That’s the only way it's going to get done," the governor said. "It's not going to get done by 24 local health departments or by a couple of hospitals. It's going to take all hands on deck."

Though most locals are eager to speed up the process, they are also frustrated that there are so many places to register for the shot. Each provider has a different sign-up form, leaving many residents confused about which to fill out.

Hogan speculated that having a single registration portal would funnel too much traffic into one place. That could cause a centralized website to crash, he suggested.

Maryland's congressional Democrats called out this fault in a Wednesday letter to the governor. Led by District 4 Rep. Anthony Brown and Sen. Chris Van Hollen, the lawmakers asked Hogan for a more unified system. Maryland's only congressional Republican, District 1 Rep. Andy Harris, did not sign the statement.

"The lack of state-wide coordination and communication in Maryland’s vaccine program has yielded rampant confusion and a disjointed, inequitable roll out," the legislators wrote. "It is clear that the State is not meeting the needs of Marylanders, and we urge you to put forth a strategy and clear guidance that significantly improves Maryland’s vaccination program."

To see when you'll be eligible for the shot, head to this website or read Maryland's plan. Use the state's search engine to find the location and registration form for your closest vaccination clinics.

Check Maryland's immunization progress on its numbers dashboard. Follow the state's infection trends on its data tracker. For more information about the coronavirus vaccine, click here.

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• Mass Vaccination Sites Ahead For MD, Vaccine Eligibility Expands
• Hogan Gets Coronavirus Vaccine On Camera, Hopes To Show It's Safe

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