Baltimore, Prince George leaders step up criticism as Hogan administration releases more vaccine data – Maryland Matters

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The Hogan administration found itself increasingly under attack on Wednesday, as local leaders and state lawmakers in Maryland’s largest black-majority jurisdictions escalated their expressions of frustration over the state’s vaccination program against COVID-19.

In back-to-back online forums, they accused the state’s health ministry of failing to anticipate and overcome challenges related to vaccine distribution. As a result, they argued, the government has failed to secure doses to states owe vulnerable communities.

Officials stressed that they not only wanted to circulate a list of grievances, but also to provide constructive ideas.

They were joined in their expressions of outrage by House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County), US Senator Chris Van Hollen (D), Representative Anthony G. Brown (D) and various leaders community.

As state and local leaders across Democrats launched their attack on state rollout of the vaccine, the Hogan administration offered its most detailed look at people who have received doses so far.

Data shows Baltimore City received the third highest number of doses, per capita, in the state, behind Kent and Dorchester counties.

Prince Georges County received the third lowest number, followed only by Anne Arundel and Harford Counties.

Communities with higher percentages of Blacks and Browns have suffered higher infection rates since the pandemic began almost exactly a year ago.

Officials in Baltimore and Prince Georges who spoke at an emergency hearing of a joint delegation late in the afternoon do not appear to be aware of the newly released data. Nonetheless, they were ruthless and direct in their criticism.

Of the. Erek Barron (R), chairman of the Prince George House delegation, said communities of color have less access to healthcare, transportation and computers and therefore more should have been done to prioritize them in vaccine allocation.

All of this should have been well anticipated, he said. None of this information is new. So why should the state ignore it?

Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott (D) said he has asked Maryland health officials to reserve 50% of doses given at state-run mass vaccination sites, the M&T Bank Stadium and convention center for residents of Baltimore. This request was denied, he said.

The state has ignored barriers to access for communities too often left behind, Scott said. the [states sign-up] system is inaccessible to too many of our vulnerable residents, including the elderly and families who do not have Internet access.

Prince George County Director Angela D. Alsobrooks (D) said it was unfair and outrageous that only 3,558 of the approximately 32,000 doses administered at Six Flags America in Largo were distributed to residents of Prince Georges.

She said Prince Georges had 118,000 people on a waiting list for a vaccine, including 77,000 who are eligible under current state criteria. She requested that Six Flags organize vaccination days only for residents of Prince Georges.

Alsobrooks also urged the state to establish two clinics, one in a large church just inside the Capital Beltway and the other at the University of Maryland College Park, which is located near one of the Maryland’s hardest hit zip codes, 20783, which includes parts of Hyattsville, Adelphi, and Langley Park.

Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) and the director of his Vaccine Equity Task Force, Maryland National Guard Brigadier General Janeen Birckhead, are expected to release a new plan on Thursday to secure doses in underserved areas.

In an interview with WBAL radio on Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Boyd K. Rutherford (right) said the effort would build on measures already taken by the state, including partnerships with predominantly black churches and using trusted voices to build confidence in vaccines. .

State figures unveiled

As leaders spoke, the governor’s office revealed its broadest look yet at how state-controlled vaccines were distributed.

Six counties and Baltimore City received more than 20 doses per 100 people. Kent County received by far the most, per capita, at 28.32.

Five counties of Carroll, Baltimore, Prince George, Harford and Anne Arundel received less than 10 doses per 100 people. (Anne Arundel, the lowest, received 8.78.)

The county state average is 12.13.

The city’s robust transport, 21.08 doses per capita, may alleviate some of the criticism that has been leveled against heads of state. But as local leaders across the state have observed, Marylanders travel long distances to get vaccinated anywhere they can find a date often crossing multiple counties in the process.

About 40% of doses administered in Baltimore City went to city residents.

Alsobrooks said she understood the temptation. Everyone wants the same. We all want our families to live and be healthy.

City refuses funds and requests dose transfer

As part of its fight against criticism, the Hogan administration issued a letter on March 3 from Dr. Jinlene Chan, Acting Assistant Secretary of Health for Public Health Services, to the City of Baltimore Administrator, Christopher J. Shorter.

The letter came in response to the city’s Feb. 19 request to deny more than $ 13 million in federal funding related to vaccines, money that could be used for personnel, PPE, transportation and other critical needs.

The letter also refers to a request to transfer doses of more than 16,000, according to a spokesperson for Hogan from the city’s health department to hospitals and retail pharmacies.

Denying funding is the city’s right, Chan wrote, but she voiced state concerns about the potential impact of losing that funding.

In a scathing response to Chan on Wednesday night, Shorter wrote, “As you know, the city of Baltimore has refused the state’s pass-through of the FEMA rebate in order to ask FEMA directly for a 100% reimbursement of our money. costs, as we have done throughout the pandemic. “

Shorter said the city has developed several systems that serve as a “workaround” for the state’s “broken distribution and registration models” that “help us reach key populations much faster.”

“We received state approval for all of these redistributions and also requested two weeks ago that all of these reallocations / transfers be publicly posted on the state’s daily vaccine report to accurately reflect the partners. supporting efforts to vaccinate city residents, ”he added.

“Some people are more aggressive”

In his interview with WBAL on Wednesday, Rutherford, the lieutenant governor, said the state cannot discriminate based on where people live, but officials are considering pop-up sites as a way to book tickets. slots for the local community to visit.

Asked about Vaccine Hunters, a group that have mastered the art of scouring the internet for dates, Rutherford said some people were more aggressive in finding the vaccine.

They are sitting in front of their computers. They are looking to see where they can get vaccinated. And if they have transportation, they get to that place by car, he said. We’ve seen people as far as Montgomery County go to Easton, to go to a Walmart, because they found that there were slots available.

He also tried to shift some of the blame for the equity controversy to local health services.

They get a stipend, the lieutenant governor said. And they can use that allowance in the best way that suits their community. You know, it all starts locally. They can make programs that reach people where they are.

A chart released by the governor’s office showed that 74.6% of the city’s doses went to hospitals and 16% to the Baltimore Department of Health. Only 3% went to mass vaccination sites.

Rutherford said all criticisms and concerns will be addressed as we have more vaccines.

When host Yuripzy Morgan observed that the state’s vaccine rollout was going well, Rutherford said he agreed.

Federal lawmakers speak out

Van Hollen has convened a panel of community experts for an online discussion about states’ unacceptable failure to reach people of color.

The distribution system in Maryland has been opaque. It has not been transparent, he said. His remarks were made before the data was released to reporters.

Anita Hawkins, associate professor at Morgan State University School of Community Health & Policy, said the keys to reaching underserved communities are availability, accessibility and acceptability.

It’s very difficult to reach the communities that need it when you don’t have equity, she said. This is not a hesitation, it is a question of the reliability of the systems themselves.

Brown, who represents Prince Georges and Anne Arundel, two of the lowest counties for per capita distribution, criticized Hogan for waiting until early March to develop a plan to distribute vaccines to communities hardest hit by the disease. infections and deaths.

Immunization equity had to be a priority for Maryland from the start, the congressman said in a statement. The fact that only now Governor Hogan is releasing a plan to address immunization disparities shows just how disorganized and dysfunctional vaccine administration has been in our state. ”

Data analyst Brenda Wintrode contributed to this report.

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