'Enough Is Enough:' County Leaders Slam MD's Vaccine Rollout Plan

ROCKVILLE, MD — Leaders in Montgomery County on Tuesday slammed the state's COVID-19 vaccine distribution plan, saying it does not properly address inequity issues plaguing hard-hit communities.

At a briefing with the County Council, Dr. Travis Gayles — the county's top health official — said that "accountability and effective leadership" are missing from efforts to ensure a more fair vaccine distribution process.

"I recognize in making this comment, I may put my job at risk because I'm a state employee. But quite frankly, enough is enough," he said. "We should not be afraid to speak out about the policies that are coming from Annapolis for fear that there may be ramifications ... (that) we might not get a mass vaccination site because we're critical of the governor. Some would argue that that may be what's happening now, quite frankly."

For weeks, the county has been asking the state to open a local mass vaccination site.

To date, Maryland has three mass vaccination sites — one at Six Flags America in Prince George's County, a second at the Baltimore Convention Center, and another at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

A fourth location is opening Thursday in Waldorf, while two others — in Salisbury and Hagerstown — will open later this month.

Gov. Larry Hogan (R) said this "will give us at least one mass vaccination site in every region of the state."

Officials: Bi-County Mass Vaccination Poses Inequity Issues

Six Flags in Bowie — which administers about 2,000 shots per day — is meant to serve as a bi-county site for Prince George's and Montgomery residents. But Montgomery County officials say the venue isn't around the corner for most residents, and the distance creates equity issues.

"Our great former (Maryland) Health Secretary, Dr. (Georges) Benjamin, said one of the keys to effective public health policy is bringing the doses to the people," Council President Tom Hucker said. "But we have a system in this administration that forces the people to drive all over the state to get to the doses."

And not everyone, he added, has access to a car or can take time off from work to pursue a vaccination.

In a statement to WTOP, a spokesman for the governor said: "I expect that we will continue to make progress and prove the members of the council wrong. You'll recall that not too long ago, they were saying that no one in the county would want to drive to Six Flags, and Montgomery County residents account for about out of three appointments. So we will just keep doing the work, and they can keep doing the opining."

The County Offers MD Options For Mass Vaccination Sites

The county has already offered up at least three locations as potential mass vaccination sites — including the Montgomery County Agricultural Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg.

Last week, Hogan said the state is open to having a site in the county, but does not possess enough doses to supply it.

"Montgomery County has the largest population. It has the most vaccines. It has the most distribution points. And it has the highest percentage of people being vaccinated," the governor said last week. "So it's not as big of a problem as some of the other areas, but certainly not something we would rule out if we get enough vaccines."

On Tuesday, the county's head of emergency management — Dr. Earl Stoddard — said the county may open a vaccination site on Montgomery College's Germantown campus to show the state what it's capable of.

"One of the things we discussed doing is potentially utilizing the site to illustrate to the state that it's a fully functional opportunity to do a mass site at that same location," Stoddard said, adding that county health officials have already done a walk-through of the site.

He estimated the location would have the capacity to administer 3,000 to 6,000 doses a day based on square footage, parking, and other physical amenities.

Montgomery County gets its vaccine supply from the state. And the state gets its supply from the federal government. At this time, the federal government is giving Maryland about 12,000 doses per day.

As of Tuesday, Maryland has administered 1,362,758 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. Among those, 898,235 were first doses and 678,195 were second doses.

In Montgomery County, 156,782 residents (14.9 percent) have received their first dose. A total of 77,890 residents (7.4 percent) have already gotten their second and final shot.

Councilmember: Dissemination of Vaccine is "Wild, Wild West"

There are a number of ways Montgomery County residents can get a vaccine: through a state-run mass vaccination site; through the county's health department; or through a specific provider or pharmacy.

At Tuesday's briefing, Councilmember Craig Rice criticized the state's vaccine rollout, saying that providers and pharmacies have pulled doses from vulnerable neighborhoods and given them to more affluent communities.

"Our private providers, pharmaceutical companies are out there doing whatever they want. It's the wild, wild West in terms of dissemination of vaccine," Rice said. "We've seen them pull from vulnerable neighborhoods and take it to more affluent neighborhoods, and that is shameful."

The Maryland Department of Health has already requested pharmacy chains and providers to give at least half of their allotment to vulnerable populations.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again: this whole distribution realm that the state has run continues to be ineffective and continues to put people of color at risk. And it needs to stop," Rice said.

He added the system is deterring members of minority communities from signing up to get a vaccine.

"We continue to see what we see, which is ... the continued reduction in folks, especially people of color and people of low socioeconomic status, registering for the vaccine. Because they don't think they're going to get it," he said. "And we can't continue to blame them for not signing up on a list thinking and seeing that the fortunate people are always the ones who continue to get the vaccine, and those who are connected continue to get the vaccine, and those who are poor and those who are Black and Brown are the ones who continue to be left by the wayside."