Maryland to receive vaccine as early as next week

Maryland could receive its first shipment of drugmaker Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine as early as next week, a top public health official said Tuesday.

Up to 50,700 doses of the first vaccine shot are expected to arrive in the initial wave of shipments from Pfizer, Dr. Jinlene Chan, acting deputy secretary of public health services, said during a press conference.

A second vaccine shot is supposed to be administered about three weeks later, and those doses are expected to come in time to do so, she said.

Dr. Chan also said up to 104,300 doses of drugmaker Moderna’s first shot are expected in the state’s first allocation, which could arrive the week of Dec. 21.

Both vaccines are awaiting emergency use approval by the Food and Drug Administration, which said Tuesday that Pfizer’s data on its vaccine are “consistent” with such approval.

Like the vaccines, Maryland’s first phase of distribution has two parts. Phase 1A includes health care workers, first responders, long-term care facility staff and residents; Phase 1B includes people who are at high-risk for serious medical complications from the virus.

The priority groups were determined by state officials and based on high-risk populations and recommendations by the federal government.

There are currently 190 infection outbreaks in nursing homes statewide and more than 130 outbreaks in assisted living facilities, Dr. Chan said. Additionally, almost half of the state’s virus-related deaths have occurred in nursing homes.

Phase 2 will include employees in critical essential infrastructure settings and the general population.

People will eventually be able to register to get the vaccine “as we enter Phases 2 and 3,” said Ms. Chan.

Gov. Larry Hogan said during Tuesday’s briefing that he and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford will let the public watch them be inoculated “to help demonstrate confidence in the vaccine.”

The officials are planning to launch an “aggressive” statewide public health campaign urging all Marylanders to get vaccinated.

“While the delivery of the vaccine is very welcome news, I would caution Marylanders to remember our initial allocation of the vaccine will only be 155,000 doses of the vaccine, with the possibility of perhaps up to 300,000 by year’s end,” said Mr. Hogan, a Republican.

The Maryland Department of Health implemented an order Tuesday expanding the number of people who can administer the vaccines to include any health care professional with “proper training.”

“To be effective, these vaccines need to reach a vast majority of our population, and to do so in a relatively short period of time,” the governor said. “This is by far the most massive undertaking of this pandemic.”

Asked if Marylanders will be mandated to get the vaccine, Mr. Hogan said “we don’t have any intention of requiring these vaccines, but we’re gonna do everything we can to encourage.”

State health officials on Tuesday reported 2,632 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the total to 219,961, and 50 new deaths, raising the toll to 4,755.

On Friday, 3,792 new cases were recorded, the highest number since the pandemic began. Maryland has more than 6 million residents, according to the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The seven-day average daily case rate per 100,000 people is 44.8, and the testing positivity rate is 7.61%, which exceeds the 5% threshold set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday that the state is expecting up to 480,000 doses by the end of December.

And D.C. Mayor Bowser last week said she has requested more vaccine doses from the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed because the first expected shipment would only cover a small fraction of the city’s more than 80,000 health care workers.