D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that the city will lift most capacity limits on Friday, May 21.

Shawn Thew / AP Photo

The top officials from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia are calling on the federal government to step in and take on the responsibility of vaccinating thousands of federal workers who live in the region.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, and Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam penned a joint letter to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the acting administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency this week, requesting the agencies dip into vaccine allotments they use to vaccine members of Congress and the military in order to provide doses to federal workers and WMATA employees in the D.C. region.

Currently, these workers are set to be vaccinated through the respective localities where they work — a feat the jurisdictions, already operating under a short supply of doses, cannot reasonably accomplish, the officials wrote.

“The District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia simply do not have the resources available to support these priority vaccinations, due to the additional burden local resources that this mission would require — especially when considering the amount of vaccine each state receives,” reads the letter.

According to federal Office of Personnel Management, more than 30,000 essential federal workers live in the D.C. region. Earlier in the vaccine rollout, Maryland and Virginia both gave weekly portions of their vaccine allotments to D.C. to cover residents who live in their states but work in the District — but these donations stopped when states became overwhelmed with demand themselves.

A FEMA spokesperson said the request is currently under review. FEMA’s parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, is working with the Veterans Health Administration to provide vaccines for essential employees in its workforce, but does not oversee a coordinated effort for all federal employees, the spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for HHS said that any changes to the current distribution process — which provides allotments to all states and five federal departments, may occur as more vaccines are available.

Officials’ request for assistance comes as all three jurisdictions see demand for the vaccine that far outpaces their allotment of doses from the federal government — an issue that officials have said has caused inequities in distribution.

As of Feb. 11, D.C. has administered 67,688 doses of the vaccine. D.C. officials said on Thursday that 70% of D.C.’s seniors will be vaccinated by the end of the month, but the city is still working on vaccinating local government workers like public school teachers and police officers.

Maryland, which moved into the last stage of the Phase One vaccine rollout in late January, has administered 785,170 doses — or about 13% of the population. The current phase includes some federal employees like U.S. Postal workers and transit employees. According to the state, approximately three million doses are needed to complete the first phase.

In the D.C. suburb of Prince George’s County, supply emerged as a major constraint last month as nonresidents began snagging appointments designated for Prince Georgians. In Montgomery County, officials harshly criticized the state’s vaccine plan after the jurisdiction received 1,000 less doses this week compared to last.

Virginia has also lagged behind in its rollout, coming under fire in January for having about half a million doses sitting unused. As of Feb. 11, the state had vaccinated about 11% of its population.

While local leaders hold out for help from federal agencies, the Biden administration has pledged to up the supply of vaccines sent to each state by 5%, and announced a plan this week to build out community health centers in every state to bring vaccines to low-income residents.

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