Gov. Larry Hogan has reactivated the Maryland National Guard to assist with coordination and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine in the state.
Hogan said during a press briefing Tuesday that the guard will provide logistical support, and special field teams will be deployed to help state health officials with planning and operations related to the vaccine. The guard will also provide support to distribution points across Maryland.
“We’re very fortunate to have these elite citizen soldiers and airmen to call on,” Hogan said, noting that the guard has assisted with other efforts like transporting coronavirus tests and personal protective equipment and building hospital surge capacity. “And once again we’re going to be utilizing them as we launch what will be the largest and most important vaccination campaign in the history of our state and our nation.”
Hogan said the guard would provide additional support as more doses of the vaccine become available. The news comes after health care workers were vaccinated Monday as the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived in the state. The initial doses will be divided between hospital workers and long-term care centers.
Maryland officials said Tuesday that over the next two weeks, all hospitals and nursing homes in the state will receive and be able to begin vaccinations.
Maryland has been allotted 155,000 initial doses of the vaccine and expects to see up to 300,000 doses by the end of the month, though deputy health secretary Dr. Jinlene Chan said Tuesday that the information from federal partners regarding availability can change “even on a daily basis.”
Other locals also started receiving vaccines this week, with some given their first doses during a “kickoff” event in D.C. on Monday. Both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the latter of which is likely to receive emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration on Friday, require two doses spaced several weeks apart. The Pfizer vaccine received emergency authorization from the agency last week.
The vaccine rollout is a bright spot in an otherwise challenging time, as Maryland reached another grim milestone on Tuesday, surpassing 5,000 deaths from COVID-19. During the press briefing,H ogan asked Marylanders for their patience with the vaccine rollout , but said the first inoculations were “a light at the end of a very long tunnel, and the beginning of the end of this deadly pandemic.”
Virginia officials said earlier this month they expect the state will receive 480,000 doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine by the end of December. D.C. has urged the federal government to increase its allotment of the vaccine, which would cover only about 10% of healthcare workers.
D.C. Health Director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt said during a press briefing Monday that Virginia will send the District 8,000 extra doses, meant to cover frontline workers in D.C. who live in Northern Virginia. Hogan said Tuesday that Maryland has a similar plan to provide some doses of the vaccine to the District.
