Maryland Democrats are pressing for “a course correction” on the state’s bumpy vaccination rollout, a reflection of the Washington area’s anxiety over the handling of limited doses amid reports of more contagious virus strains in the region.
“Marylanders eligible for the vaccine are unable to schedule their appointments and do not know when, where, and by whom they can get vaccinated, leaving people and communities extremely frustrated,” the letter said. “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.”
The criticism is part of the Washington region’s mounting concern over the slow pace of vaccinations as jurisdictions struggle to keep pace with demand. It comes as more cases of the highly transmissible variants first found in South Africa and the United Kingdom are being detected.
Virginia’s health department announced Wednesday that a resident in the northwestern part of the state has tested positive for the one first discovered in the U.K., the second case statewide of the variant, which spreads more easily than other variants, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The first case, reported Jan. 25, was in Northern Virginia.
Maryland reported a case of that variant two weeks ago. State health officials have also recently reported three cases of the one first found in South Africa, one in the Baltimore area and two in Montgomery County.
Although the region’s rolling average for new infections has trended downward for several days, public health experts worry the presence of the more contagious variants could lead to another rise.
“We’re in a race, a little bit, with vaccinations,” said Margery Smelkinson, an immunology and infectious-disease expert at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. “If we can speed up vaccinations and get viral loads down, we can combat the spread.”
As of Tuesday, nearly 1.3 million residents in Maryland, D.C. and Virginia had received at least one vaccine dose, even as the wait lists for vaccine appointments grow by the thousands each day in some jurisdictions.
In Virginia, for example, the wait list for vaccinations in Fairfax County reached 186,602 earlier this week. It climbed to 70,000 in Loudoun County.
Maryland’s Montgomery County, which is focusing on vaccinating older residents, has 88,000 people older than 75 in its queue for appointments.
The county has been more methodical about vaccinations, dealing with one vulnerable population at a time. At the current vaccine supply rate, it could take several weeks to begin offering doses to residents between the ages of 65 and 74, county officials said Wednesday.
The county’s health department is prioritizing residents in harder-hit Zip codes, although private vaccination clinics might not be, County Executive Marc Elrich said.
Elrich (D) — who is awaiting council approval to allow restaurants to resume limited indoor dining next week — called on state officials to require health-care providers to prevent racial disparities in their vaccine distribution.
“I think this is fixable,” he said, responding to examples in which less computer-savvy and lower-income residents get disproportionately fewer vaccine appointments. “But everybody needs to make a commitment to creating a ‘not first-come, first-served’ system.”
Hogan has worked to speed up vaccinations in the state after a sluggish start to inoculate hospital and nursing home workers.
The state quadrupled eligibility for the vaccine last month and began dispersing its limited number of doses among a broader base of providers. That strategy dramatically boosted the daily vaccination rate but also put about 1.6 million eligible but unvaccinated people into competition for roughly 80,000 new doses available each week.
Congressional Democrats in Maryland contend the lopsided supply and demand undermines the state’s goal of making sure those who need the vaccine most get it first.
Their letter questions the wisdom of siphoning doses from local health departments to supply retail pharmacies at stores such as Giant, Walmart, Safeway and Rite Aid. The congress members said it also makes it difficult for local governments to prioritize groups. Maryland’s only Republican member of Congress, Rep. Andy Harris, did not sign the letter to the governor.
Hogan has argued it’s critical to build a broad network of places to receive the vaccine now, when supply is limited, so the system can ramp up quickly when supply increases.
“By following the science, and the plan we’ve laid out, we have rapidly accelerated from 2,000 to 25,000 shots per day in a matter of weeks,” said Mike Ricci, Hogan’s spokesman. “We will take the delegation’s suggestions under advisement, as we always do, and hope that they use their distinguished perches to help us tackle vaccine hesitancy so that we can ensure more equitable access to safe and effective vaccines.”
On Wednesday, state health officials said Maryland’s first mass vaccination clinic will open Friday at the Baltimore Convention Center Field Hospital. Residents must register to request an appointment, and strong demand means “wait times between submitting a request form and receiving an invitation to schedule could be significant,” officials said. Walk-ins are not permitted.
The Maryland National Guard is setting up a second mass vaccination site at Six Flags in Prince George’s County, also scheduled to open Friday, officials said.
In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) also has faced criticism over his state’s vaccine rollout, prompting him last week to direct the state health department to create a single, statewide vaccination registration system.
Virginia, which earlier had ranked among the worst-performing states in getting doses out, has also begun allocating them directly to health districts instead of also shipping them to hospitals — an effort based on population size that also has fueled criticism among larger localities that now are getting fewer doses.
In D.C., health officials have tweaked plans to vaccinate seniors, people with high-risk conditions, teachers and other essential workers amid complaints that appointments were being snapped up in less than an hour, with lower-income residents unable to secure a spot, while residents in wealthier areas were.
Frustration over vaccinations comes as the Washington region’s average for new infections has been dropping, reversing a post-holiday surge that led to record highs in cases and virus-related deaths last month.
On Wednesday, Maryland’s seven-day average for new infections was 1,561, less than half of where that average stood in early January. The state’s average number of daily deaths was 32, compared with 45 in late January.
In Virginia, the seven-day average for new infections was 3,541, down from more than 5,100 last month. But new deaths in the state are still near record highs, near 50 each day.
The District has seen its average caseload drop for five days, a number that stood at 191 on Wednesday.
Smelkinson, who also has advised local nonprofits in virus-related public health strategies, said the drop might be partially due to vaccinations but could also be tied to fewer people gathering after the holidays.
Still, she said, there could be jumps in community spread as some jurisdictions consider loosening shutdown guidelines. She said the public should remain vigilant and adhere to standard health precautions.
“I know it is hard to do, but we need to buckle down,” she said.
Dana Hedgpeth contributed to this report.
