GOVERNOR HOGAN: Good afternoon. Joining me today are Brigadier General Janeen Birckhead, who is the leader of our Vaccine Equity Task Force, and our deputy sector for public health, Dr. Jinlene Chan. Their teams have been working around the clock to marshal an unprecedented public health response and to get shots into the arms of every single Marylander who wants one.
This effort grew from about four people to more than 11,400 people all across the state who are working around the clock to vaccine millions of Marylanders.
Today, Maryland has surpassed the incredible milestone of 4 million vaccines administered. It took 94 days to reach the first 2 million doses, and the second 2 million vaccinations have been accomplished in just 35 days. Maryland is vaccinating at a faster rate than the nation and most other states.
As of today, we have vaccinated more than 82 percent of all Marylanders over the age of 65, and more than 55 percent of all Marylanders 18 years and older. The Biden Administration, as I’ve said, has recognized the State of Maryland for having one of the nation’s first and most advanced equity plans, and Bloomberg ranks Maryland as a national leader for vaccinating minority populations.
As of today, our more than 3,000 points of distribution have expanded to include 509 pharmacies and 104 doctor’s offices, as our equity task force is adding dozens of new clinics each week.
Tomorrow, we launch the state’s newest mass vaccination site at Ripken Stadium in Harford County and we will open the 13th mass vaccine site at the mall in Columbia in Howard County the next week. We have — that’s next week.
We have also expanded the no appointment necessary option. Tomorrow, we will add no appointment walkup lines at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium here in Annapolis, the Baltimore Convention Center Field Hospital, and at the FEMA site in Greenbelt. We’ve also expanded our no appointment walkup lines at M and T Bank Stadium, at Western Maryland and Eastern Shore mass vax sites and we will continue to increase these opportunities in the coming weeks.
We’re hitting some milestones at the mass vaccination sites. 6 Flags is just about ready to hit 250,000 vaccinations. Southern Maryland site reached 100,000 vaccinations as of today and yesterday, M and T Bank Stadium reached a new high for them of 1,000 vaccinations in just one hour.
The best way to be guaranteed a vaccine and to get through these sites quicker and easier is still to preregister and secure an appointment at COVIDvax.maryland.gov or to call the state’s COVID-19 vaccination support center at 1-855-MD-GOVAX.
While 4 million vaccinations is a remarkable achievement, we still have a ways to go before we can declare mission accomplished. Our goal throughout this massive effort has remained the same and that is to provide a vaccine to every single Marylander who wants one. And to further that goal, today, we are launching a series of new, No Arm Left Behind initiatives, which will involve every state agency, private industries, and every demographic in an all hands on deck effort to make sure that every Marylander who wants a vaccine can get access to one as quickly as possible.
This will include redoubling our efforts to reach that remaining 18 percent of Maryland seniors by going county by county and ZIP code by ZIP code in an effort to get every senior vaccinated.
In addition to conducting vaccinations at every nursing home, every assisted living and long-term care facility, we’ve also completed or scheduled clinics at 98 percent of all the other senior housing facilities in the state. We’re also proactively reaching out to, and directly contacting, more than 70,000 of the state’s Medicaid recipients, age 50 and older, who have not yet received the vaccine, and we’re booking them — we’re booking appointments for more of them every single day.
We’re also conducting clinics at senior centers across the state through partnerships with Rite Aid, Safeway and Giant pharmacies. And today, I signed an executive order to authorize the reopening of senior centers across the state for safe, in-person activities.
Everyone who studies at any Maryland higher education institution is strongly encouraged to get vaccinated. State health officials are partnering with the Maryland Higher Education Commission to conduct direct outreach to all campuses in the state, and we’re blocking off and reserving appointments at mass vaccination sites specifically for college and university students, including reserving slots at the Greenbelt FEMA sites specifically for students at College Park.
And we will be partnering with 42 public and private universities, colleges and community colleges on public information, social media and ad campaign to ensure that we get our students vaccinated.
Another critical component of this No Arm Left Behind Initiative will be partnering with some of the largest employers in the state of Maryland, including Southwest Airlines, Exelon, Comcast, Amazon and many others, to help ensure that their workforces are being vaccinated as expeditiously as possible, and I want to thank the President for announcing a new tax credit, encouraging employers to provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated.
We’re also continuing to conduct vaccine clinics for essential workers at manufacturing facilities across the state, including the clinic at — which I visited earlier today, and we’re conducting outreach programs to Maryland’s agricultural workers as well.
The Vaccine Equity Task Force is expanding the use of mobile clinics to vaccine people in hard-to-reach areas. They have now conducted more than 50 different clinics for targeted populations, including this week when they held the first no appointment necessary walkup mobile clinic in Cumberland.
Maryland was one of the first states in the nation to stand up a multilingual vaccine support call center, which has now taken more than 1.5 million calls to answer questions and book appointments at mass vaccination sites.
Our No Arm Left Behind Initiative will enhance the capabilities of our state call center to include providing direct assistance to Marylanders who need assistance in getting a vaccine. If you’re homebound, you need transportation, or technological assistance, we will put you in touch with all of the resources that you need in order to get vaccinated.
The call center is available seven days a week from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., by dialing 1-855-MD-GOVAX. And support providers are now available in over 200 languages.
As part of the next phase of our statewide vaccine confidence campaign, we’re launching a new public service announcement featuring physicians from across the state talking about the safety of the vaccines and encouraging people to get vaccinated, and this campaign will be expanding further in the coming weeks.
Next to getting vaccinated, the most important thing you can do is to encourage all of your neighbors, coworkers, friends and family to get vaccinated, as well. Research shows that people feel more comfortable getting a vaccine when they hear about the experience directly from someone they know and trust.
We truly are close to that light at the end of the tunnel. For those of you who have not yet been vaccinated, please go get a vaccine as quickly as you can. Do it for yourself; do it for your family; do it for your friends; and do it so that all of us can finally put this global pandemic behind us.
Now, I’m going to turn it over to Brigadier General Birckhead to provide an update on the efforts of our Vaccine Equity Task Force to expand the use of mobile clinics. General?
BRIG. GEN. BIRCKHEAD: Thank you, Governor. Good afternoon, thank you, doctor, for all your hard work and partnership. Since Governor Hogan’s appointed the Vaccine Equity Task Force, we’ve worked very hard, nonstop, with local departments, community stakeholders, to serve the underserved, and to bridge the health outcome gap that exists, ultimately increasing Marylanders’ access to the vaccine.
With many years of professional experience and interagency cooperation and efforts toward equity and equality, our Maryland team combined with the state, local influencers and organizations, are working to ensure no arm is left behind. Our hard work is starting to pay off.
As of April 17th — designates the state as fifth in the nation for vaccinating Black Americans, eighth among states for vaccinating the state’s percentage of Asian population, and 13th amongst states for vaccinating the state’s share of the Hispanic population. As Maryland’s Governor Hogan said, equally as important as getting the vaccine yourself is helping someone you know to get the vaccine. This is precisely why it’s crucial for the Vaccine Equity Task Force to exist.
Our data-driven approach leads the task force to engage those communities who may otherwise be left behind. Each of Maryland’s 24 counties provided an equity plan, and we thank them for their hard work. Realizing that they cannot do it alone, the Vaccine Equity Task Force has performed and/or assisted in vaccine distribution in all 24 jurisdictions.
To date, we have helped with more than 42,000 vaccines. Recently at M and T Bank Stadium, currently a state vaccination site, we hosted the first faith leaders united event where a diverse group of faith leaders came together with their families to receive vaccine and to get information. The faith community has been, and continues to be, an integral part of this partnership.
Trusted voices are so important in this endeavor, and adding to the diverse collection of this effort every day. And while in north Maryland, I spoke with a leader in the Piscataway tribe after a vaccine clinic that was colocated with Prince George’s county health departments. This is a meeting where people were — meeting people where they are, near their cultural center in their neighborhood.
In Baltimore, Lieutenant Governor Boyd Rutherford toured the vaccine site at the — to schedule people after work and to meet people where they are. On the eastern shore, we are partnering with faith-based institutions and community activists for mobilizing their local community to get their family and friends and those that need that extra nudge out the door to get their vaccine.
In Cumberland, the mobile set up a pop-up shop at the local boys and girls club to bring vaccines that last mile. Today as we projected delivering over 2,000 doses to various sites to include our mobile clinics.
Our well mobile — will transverse 11 counties over the next month to deliver the vaccine to hard-to-reach areas. While we feel hopeful, it is not time to celebrate just yet. That’s why the task force will continue to partner with a variety of organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Club in various counties, the Preakness Latino community, the archdiocese of Baltimore and many others to defeat this virus through equity.
I am pleased to announce some exciting news in conjunction with the academic community. Historically black colleges and universities are more than just hallowed grounds for learning; they are also part of the community. So I’m pleased to announce our partnerships with two of Maryland’s HBCUs, Morgan State University, the largest HBCU in Maryland, will host three-day walkup clinics starting on April 30th, delivering about 390 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. This will open to all tiers and will allow not just students and faculty, but also the broader community to get the vaccine.
And yesterday, we completed a site assessment of — State University, the oldest historically Black university in Maryland and the Vaccine Equity Task Force in conjunction with the University and the county will hold a town hall to educate and provide vaccine on that same day. We will move forward with mobile vax on that campus as well.
Thank you, as well to our partners and thousands of in that game members who have paused their lives to be here to conduct COVID-19 operations over the past year. The continued contribution in defeating this virus contributes to the success.
The Vaccine Equity Task Force will continue to work hard to get to community immunity. Please visit our website, and if you need additional assistance, please go to 1-855-MD-GOVAX.
Thank you so much.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Thank you. With that, we would be happy to take a couple of questions.
(Question off mic).
I know that the board of regents and the chancellor are considering that decision right now. They’re the ones that would make that decision for the university system. The other colleges, it would be up to them. I know a number of colleges across the country are mandating it and we would encourage them to do so, but that’s not an action that requires any executive order or any health department order from us. That would be a decision by the university system or the individual universities. But we want to make sure everybody that is returning to the campuses is safe and that they all get their vaccines.
(Question off mic).
Actually, I’m really encouraged, because there were a number of national studies that came out and they said — they did national polling and they didn’t think more than 62 or 63 percent of the people would get vaccinated. We’ve already done 82 percent of our most vulnerable population, that’s over 65, and we’re well on our way to getting the rest.
So we’re actually ahead of where we thought the max capacity was, but we’re going to keep going. I would love to see 100 percent of the people, but I don’t think anybody ever anticipated getting to get level. Dr. Fauci at one point was saying 60-70 percent would reach herd immunity. Others think it’s 80 or 90. We’re at the very high end of the scale. I want to keep pushing until we get every person. We’re not concerned at this point. We’re pretty pleased with the progress.
(Question off mic).
So it’s always been kind of the plan to keep expanding with more opportunities, but we also have as I’ve said for months, at some point, it’s going to start to slack off. We want to keep them filled and keep moving at the same pace. Right now, we’re continuing to move at the same pace, but we’re having to do lots of creative things to get the same number of vaccines done every day. Because we’ve opened up so many new opportunities because now, you can go and — instead of it was 34 pharmacies, now, you go to 509 pharmacies, almost every pharmacy in the state, because now, you go to your doctor’s office, because we now have 13 mass vax sites, because we’ve done all the clinics everywhere, what’s happening is people are getting vaccinated.
So we’ve got 4 million vaccines done. The other people are scheduled. And what’s happening is I think in some cases, we have up to maybe 20 percent drop-off on when people schedule an appointment. That wasn’t happening before. People were showing up for their appointment. Now, they’re like I got it at the CVS so I don’t need to show up at my appointment or I got it down the street at the Giant or Safeway. That drop-off, we’re doing 3,000 or 5,000 people a day at mass vax sites, and 20 percent of people don’t show up, then we have 600 or 1,000 extra shots. We want to use every single one of them, so with the walkups, it’s let’s use every one you have. You can’t plan for how many people are going to show up. You don’t know who’s going to make it to their appointment. So far, we haven’t dropped off at all. We’re still making progress. That’s why we’re doing all these things, to keep up with the demand. At some point soon, we’re going to be shutting down sites, everything is going to be, you know, finding those last few people, knocking on doors, calling them on the phone. We need you to get a vaccine.
We’re at that point now where we’re getting up to the hump and we’re going to start coming down the other side.
(Question off mic).
Percentage of working adults? I’m sorry, I don’t know that one. They didn’t talk about this announcement today at our call to the White House yesterday so I haven’t actually seen the announcement. I think it sounds like a good idea.
But when we were out today, I think you joined us, at last stop, we were at a manufacturing facility. We’re doing the vaccines right in their facilities so nobody had to take off work and they’re working and they take a break to get a vaccine, which we’re trying to do in will have our large employers, but certainly, it’s a good idea for those people like — I just called you doctor — but the doctor general, I can call you General, too, but she was talking about this, about going out to the pop-up clinics where they were doing at churches, after hours, because people that can’t get off work.
We want to do everything we can to make it easy for people and we understand it’s hard for people who they’re working and they have to take care of their family and they don’t have the time.
(Question off mic).
No. It’s funny. We had a call — is today Wednesday? Tuesday, yesterday. It seems like a long time ago, but yesterday, we had a call with the White House. They were very hopeful on J and J and their story to us was they hoped by Friday that this decision would be made, that there were millions of doses, you know, ready to be shipped if and when the FDA makes their decision.
So the report today, they said nothing about it, but, you know, hopefully, they’ll get it resolved. This is something — we haven’t had all the information, they’re not that forthcoming with all the information. Maybe the FDA doesn’t talk to the White House or the White House doesn’t talk to us, I’m not sure. But it sounds like they inspect the facilities every two years, you know, feds pay for the facilities, builds the facility, FDA has done their last review in 2019. I’m not sure.
They’re telling us that they expect J and J may be back available as early as Friday, but I don’t know that’s actually going to be true or not.
(Question off mic).
We’re very pleased with the state numbers because again, we’ve been on kind of a plateau for a couple of weeks now, but the past couple of days, almost all of our numbers are down. Today our daily positivity rate is down substantially. Our seven-day positivity rate is down. Our case rate is down to the lowest point it’s been in a long time. Hospitalizations are down. ICU, down.
So every metric that we look at, the state is in better shape than we were last week and the week before, and we’re hoping that it’s a pattern that will continue. We remain very concerned about the fact that every state to our north is in the red zone and we’re not, and that includes Pennsylvania and Delaware, and we’re seeing some of that creep, a lot of people commute across the state line, they live in Pennsylvania and work in Baltimore County or in the city.
People from Delaware are coming to Cecil County so we’re seeing Baltimore County and Cecil are the only ones where we’re having the opposite going on from the rest of the state and we are concerned, which is why the real key is getting everybody vaccinated. If everyone’s vaccinated, we won’t have — very few, four percent.
(Question off mic).
There’s nothing that’s dramatically concerning. Definitely different rates in different areas for different reasons. But, you know, overall, we’re pretty pleased with where we are. Wherever we can, we’re trying to boost those numbers where they’re down.
(Question off mic).
I’ll come right back to you.
(Question off mic).
Well, there’s no question we’ve still got a lot of work to do, and, you know, yesterday, I think I was pleased that the decision came down — I’ve said from the beginning, this was a brutal murder of George Floyd and the fact they came down with that quick decision, guilty on all four counts, I think was the right one. I think hopefully, that’s going to be a part of healing, both for his family and for communities all across the country, but we’ve got work to do.
We’ve still got to address the violent crime situation in addition to police reform, and, you know, defunding police or getting rid of police force is not going to help us with our violent crime problem, and that’s — and so this past year I was pleased that the state Senate nearly unanimously passed our tough crime bills. They died again in the House for the second time. We have 350 murders a year, in Baltimore City and murders are up in Prince George’s County and I’m not sure how getting rid of police or defunding them is going to help with that situation.
We’ve got to do both, figure out a better way to do our policing, do more community policing. I’ve said before, we have to address some of the systemic problems. We have to do police reform, but we also — I mean, people say well let’s not put more money into police, let’s not hire more police. I think that’s a mistake. It’s like saying we want to improve education, but we’re going to cut funding for education and we’re going to get rid of teachers. We’ve got to improve the training, de-escalation techniques and body cams and more community outreach and get our police forces as strong as they can be and working with communities better. We’ve got to root out bad cops and we’ve got to heal the rifts in the community.
(Question off mic).
I’m sorry with the mask in the back of the room —
(Question off mic).
It hasn’t really been an issue that we have — that has come before us. I know the debate on both sides of the issue. You know, I’m not sure that it’s going to happen. I think certain people have been talking about it, like major league sports, for example, have talked about we can fill stadiums again if we make sure everybody has a vaccine. There are a lot of different ways to look at this situation, but, you know, it’s not something we’re focused on at the state level. I think it’s something they’re going to be trying to address at the federal level.
Thank you.
This effort grew from about four people to more than 11,400 people all across the state who are working around the clock to vaccine millions of Marylanders.
Today, Maryland has surpassed the incredible milestone of 4 million vaccines administered. It took 94 days to reach the first 2 million doses, and the second 2 million vaccinations have been accomplished in just 35 days. Maryland is vaccinating at a faster rate than the nation and most other states.
As of today, we have vaccinated more than 82 percent of all Marylanders over the age of 65, and more than 55 percent of all Marylanders 18 years and older. The Biden Administration, as I’ve said, has recognized the State of Maryland for having one of the nation’s first and most advanced equity plans, and Bloomberg ranks Maryland as a national leader for vaccinating minority populations.
As of today, our more than 3,000 points of distribution have expanded to include 509 pharmacies and 104 doctor’s offices, as our equity task force is adding dozens of new clinics each week.
Tomorrow, we launch the state’s newest mass vaccination site at Ripken Stadium in Harford County and we will open the 13th mass vaccine site at the mall in Columbia in Howard County the next week. We have — that’s next week.
We have also expanded the no appointment necessary option. Tomorrow, we will add no appointment walkup lines at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium here in Annapolis, the Baltimore Convention Center Field Hospital, and at the FEMA site in Greenbelt. We’ve also expanded our no appointment walkup lines at M and T Bank Stadium, at Western Maryland and Eastern Shore mass vax sites and we will continue to increase these opportunities in the coming weeks.
We’re hitting some milestones at the mass vaccination sites. 6 Flags is just about ready to hit 250,000 vaccinations. Southern Maryland site reached 100,000 vaccinations as of today and yesterday, M and T Bank Stadium reached a new high for them of 1,000 vaccinations in just one hour.
The best way to be guaranteed a vaccine and to get through these sites quicker and easier is still to preregister and secure an appointment at COVIDvax.maryland.gov or to call the state’s COVID-19 vaccination support center at 1-855-MD-GOVAX.
While 4 million vaccinations is a remarkable achievement, we still have a ways to go before we can declare mission accomplished. Our goal throughout this massive effort has remained the same and that is to provide a vaccine to every single Marylander who wants one. And to further that goal, today, we are launching a series of new, No Arm Left Behind initiatives, which will involve every state agency, private industries, and every demographic in an all hands on deck effort to make sure that every Marylander who wants a vaccine can get access to one as quickly as possible.
This will include redoubling our efforts to reach that remaining 18 percent of Maryland seniors by going county by county and ZIP code by ZIP code in an effort to get every senior vaccinated.
In addition to conducting vaccinations at every nursing home, every assisted living and long-term care facility, we’ve also completed or scheduled clinics at 98 percent of all the other senior housing facilities in the state. We’re also proactively reaching out to, and directly contacting, more than 70,000 of the state’s Medicaid recipients, age 50 and older, who have not yet received the vaccine, and we’re booking them — we’re booking appointments for more of them every single day.
We’re also conducting clinics at senior centers across the state through partnerships with Rite Aid, Safeway and Giant pharmacies. And today, I signed an executive order to authorize the reopening of senior centers across the state for safe, in-person activities.
Everyone who studies at any Maryland higher education institution is strongly encouraged to get vaccinated. State health officials are partnering with the Maryland Higher Education Commission to conduct direct outreach to all campuses in the state, and we’re blocking off and reserving appointments at mass vaccination sites specifically for college and university students, including reserving slots at the Greenbelt FEMA sites specifically for students at College Park.
And we will be partnering with 42 public and private universities, colleges and community colleges on public information, social media and ad campaign to ensure that we get our students vaccinated.
Another critical component of this No Arm Left Behind Initiative will be partnering with some of the largest employers in the state of Maryland, including Southwest Airlines, Exelon, Comcast, Amazon and many others, to help ensure that their workforces are being vaccinated as expeditiously as possible, and I want to thank the President for announcing a new tax credit, encouraging employers to provide paid time off for employees to get vaccinated.
We’re also continuing to conduct vaccine clinics for essential workers at manufacturing facilities across the state, including the clinic at — which I visited earlier today, and we’re conducting outreach programs to Maryland’s agricultural workers as well.
The Vaccine Equity Task Force is expanding the use of mobile clinics to vaccine people in hard-to-reach areas. They have now conducted more than 50 different clinics for targeted populations, including this week when they held the first no appointment necessary walkup mobile clinic in Cumberland.
Maryland was one of the first states in the nation to stand up a multilingual vaccine support call center, which has now taken more than 1.5 million calls to answer questions and book appointments at mass vaccination sites.
Our No Arm Left Behind Initiative will enhance the capabilities of our state call center to include providing direct assistance to Marylanders who need assistance in getting a vaccine. If you’re homebound, you need transportation, or technological assistance, we will put you in touch with all of the resources that you need in order to get vaccinated.
The call center is available seven days a week from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., by dialing 1-855-MD-GOVAX. And support providers are now available in over 200 languages.
As part of the next phase of our statewide vaccine confidence campaign, we’re launching a new public service announcement featuring physicians from across the state talking about the safety of the vaccines and encouraging people to get vaccinated, and this campaign will be expanding further in the coming weeks.
Next to getting vaccinated, the most important thing you can do is to encourage all of your neighbors, coworkers, friends and family to get vaccinated, as well. Research shows that people feel more comfortable getting a vaccine when they hear about the experience directly from someone they know and trust.
We truly are close to that light at the end of the tunnel. For those of you who have not yet been vaccinated, please go get a vaccine as quickly as you can. Do it for yourself; do it for your family; do it for your friends; and do it so that all of us can finally put this global pandemic behind us.
Now, I’m going to turn it over to Brigadier General Birckhead to provide an update on the efforts of our Vaccine Equity Task Force to expand the use of mobile clinics. General?
BRIG. GEN. BIRCKHEAD: Thank you, Governor. Good afternoon, thank you, doctor, for all your hard work and partnership. Since Governor Hogan’s appointed the Vaccine Equity Task Force, we’ve worked very hard, nonstop, with local departments, community stakeholders, to serve the underserved, and to bridge the health outcome gap that exists, ultimately increasing Marylanders’ access to the vaccine.
With many years of professional experience and interagency cooperation and efforts toward equity and equality, our Maryland team combined with the state, local influencers and organizations, are working to ensure no arm is left behind. Our hard work is starting to pay off.
As of April 17th — designates the state as fifth in the nation for vaccinating Black Americans, eighth among states for vaccinating the state’s percentage of Asian population, and 13th amongst states for vaccinating the state’s share of the Hispanic population. As Maryland’s Governor Hogan said, equally as important as getting the vaccine yourself is helping someone you know to get the vaccine. This is precisely why it’s crucial for the Vaccine Equity Task Force to exist.
Our data-driven approach leads the task force to engage those communities who may otherwise be left behind. Each of Maryland’s 24 counties provided an equity plan, and we thank them for their hard work. Realizing that they cannot do it alone, the Vaccine Equity Task Force has performed and/or assisted in vaccine distribution in all 24 jurisdictions.
To date, we have helped with more than 42,000 vaccines. Recently at M and T Bank Stadium, currently a state vaccination site, we hosted the first faith leaders united event where a diverse group of faith leaders came together with their families to receive vaccine and to get information. The faith community has been, and continues to be, an integral part of this partnership.
Trusted voices are so important in this endeavor, and adding to the diverse collection of this effort every day. And while in north Maryland, I spoke with a leader in the Piscataway tribe after a vaccine clinic that was colocated with Prince George’s county health departments. This is a meeting where people were — meeting people where they are, near their cultural center in their neighborhood.
In Baltimore, Lieutenant Governor Boyd Rutherford toured the vaccine site at the — to schedule people after work and to meet people where they are. On the eastern shore, we are partnering with faith-based institutions and community activists for mobilizing their local community to get their family and friends and those that need that extra nudge out the door to get their vaccine.
In Cumberland, the mobile set up a pop-up shop at the local boys and girls club to bring vaccines that last mile. Today as we projected delivering over 2,000 doses to various sites to include our mobile clinics.
Our well mobile — will transverse 11 counties over the next month to deliver the vaccine to hard-to-reach areas. While we feel hopeful, it is not time to celebrate just yet. That’s why the task force will continue to partner with a variety of organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Club in various counties, the Preakness Latino community, the archdiocese of Baltimore and many others to defeat this virus through equity.
I am pleased to announce some exciting news in conjunction with the academic community. Historically black colleges and universities are more than just hallowed grounds for learning; they are also part of the community. So I’m pleased to announce our partnerships with two of Maryland’s HBCUs, Morgan State University, the largest HBCU in Maryland, will host three-day walkup clinics starting on April 30th, delivering about 390 doses of the Pfizer vaccine. This will open to all tiers and will allow not just students and faculty, but also the broader community to get the vaccine.
And yesterday, we completed a site assessment of — State University, the oldest historically Black university in Maryland and the Vaccine Equity Task Force in conjunction with the University and the county will hold a town hall to educate and provide vaccine on that same day. We will move forward with mobile vax on that campus as well.
Thank you, as well to our partners and thousands of in that game members who have paused their lives to be here to conduct COVID-19 operations over the past year. The continued contribution in defeating this virus contributes to the success.
The Vaccine Equity Task Force will continue to work hard to get to community immunity. Please visit our website, and if you need additional assistance, please go to 1-855-MD-GOVAX.
Thank you so much.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Thank you. With that, we would be happy to take a couple of questions.
(Question off mic).
I know that the board of regents and the chancellor are considering that decision right now. They’re the ones that would make that decision for the university system. The other colleges, it would be up to them. I know a number of colleges across the country are mandating it and we would encourage them to do so, but that’s not an action that requires any executive order or any health department order from us. That would be a decision by the university system or the individual universities. But we want to make sure everybody that is returning to the campuses is safe and that they all get their vaccines.
(Question off mic).
Actually, I’m really encouraged, because there were a number of national studies that came out and they said — they did national polling and they didn’t think more than 62 or 63 percent of the people would get vaccinated. We’ve already done 82 percent of our most vulnerable population, that’s over 65, and we’re well on our way to getting the rest.
So we’re actually ahead of where we thought the max capacity was, but we’re going to keep going. I would love to see 100 percent of the people, but I don’t think anybody ever anticipated getting to get level. Dr. Fauci at one point was saying 60-70 percent would reach herd immunity. Others think it’s 80 or 90. We’re at the very high end of the scale. I want to keep pushing until we get every person. We’re not concerned at this point. We’re pretty pleased with the progress.
(Question off mic).
So it’s always been kind of the plan to keep expanding with more opportunities, but we also have as I’ve said for months, at some point, it’s going to start to slack off. We want to keep them filled and keep moving at the same pace. Right now, we’re continuing to move at the same pace, but we’re having to do lots of creative things to get the same number of vaccines done every day. Because we’ve opened up so many new opportunities because now, you can go and — instead of it was 34 pharmacies, now, you go to 509 pharmacies, almost every pharmacy in the state, because now, you go to your doctor’s office, because we now have 13 mass vax sites, because we’ve done all the clinics everywhere, what’s happening is people are getting vaccinated.
So we’ve got 4 million vaccines done. The other people are scheduled. And what’s happening is I think in some cases, we have up to maybe 20 percent drop-off on when people schedule an appointment. That wasn’t happening before. People were showing up for their appointment. Now, they’re like I got it at the CVS so I don’t need to show up at my appointment or I got it down the street at the Giant or Safeway. That drop-off, we’re doing 3,000 or 5,000 people a day at mass vax sites, and 20 percent of people don’t show up, then we have 600 or 1,000 extra shots. We want to use every single one of them, so with the walkups, it’s let’s use every one you have. You can’t plan for how many people are going to show up. You don’t know who’s going to make it to their appointment. So far, we haven’t dropped off at all. We’re still making progress. That’s why we’re doing all these things, to keep up with the demand. At some point soon, we’re going to be shutting down sites, everything is going to be, you know, finding those last few people, knocking on doors, calling them on the phone. We need you to get a vaccine.
We’re at that point now where we’re getting up to the hump and we’re going to start coming down the other side.
(Question off mic).
Percentage of working adults? I’m sorry, I don’t know that one. They didn’t talk about this announcement today at our call to the White House yesterday so I haven’t actually seen the announcement. I think it sounds like a good idea.
But when we were out today, I think you joined us, at last stop, we were at a manufacturing facility. We’re doing the vaccines right in their facilities so nobody had to take off work and they’re working and they take a break to get a vaccine, which we’re trying to do in will have our large employers, but certainly, it’s a good idea for those people like — I just called you doctor — but the doctor general, I can call you General, too, but she was talking about this, about going out to the pop-up clinics where they were doing at churches, after hours, because people that can’t get off work.
We want to do everything we can to make it easy for people and we understand it’s hard for people who they’re working and they have to take care of their family and they don’t have the time.
(Question off mic).
No. It’s funny. We had a call — is today Wednesday? Tuesday, yesterday. It seems like a long time ago, but yesterday, we had a call with the White House. They were very hopeful on J and J and their story to us was they hoped by Friday that this decision would be made, that there were millions of doses, you know, ready to be shipped if and when the FDA makes their decision.
So the report today, they said nothing about it, but, you know, hopefully, they’ll get it resolved. This is something — we haven’t had all the information, they’re not that forthcoming with all the information. Maybe the FDA doesn’t talk to the White House or the White House doesn’t talk to us, I’m not sure. But it sounds like they inspect the facilities every two years, you know, feds pay for the facilities, builds the facility, FDA has done their last review in 2019. I’m not sure.
They’re telling us that they expect J and J may be back available as early as Friday, but I don’t know that’s actually going to be true or not.
(Question off mic).
We’re very pleased with the state numbers because again, we’ve been on kind of a plateau for a couple of weeks now, but the past couple of days, almost all of our numbers are down. Today our daily positivity rate is down substantially. Our seven-day positivity rate is down. Our case rate is down to the lowest point it’s been in a long time. Hospitalizations are down. ICU, down.
So every metric that we look at, the state is in better shape than we were last week and the week before, and we’re hoping that it’s a pattern that will continue. We remain very concerned about the fact that every state to our north is in the red zone and we’re not, and that includes Pennsylvania and Delaware, and we’re seeing some of that creep, a lot of people commute across the state line, they live in Pennsylvania and work in Baltimore County or in the city.
People from Delaware are coming to Cecil County so we’re seeing Baltimore County and Cecil are the only ones where we’re having the opposite going on from the rest of the state and we are concerned, which is why the real key is getting everybody vaccinated. If everyone’s vaccinated, we won’t have — very few, four percent.
(Question off mic).
There’s nothing that’s dramatically concerning. Definitely different rates in different areas for different reasons. But, you know, overall, we’re pretty pleased with where we are. Wherever we can, we’re trying to boost those numbers where they’re down.
(Question off mic).
I’ll come right back to you.
(Question off mic).
Well, there’s no question we’ve still got a lot of work to do, and, you know, yesterday, I think I was pleased that the decision came down — I’ve said from the beginning, this was a brutal murder of George Floyd and the fact they came down with that quick decision, guilty on all four counts, I think was the right one. I think hopefully, that’s going to be a part of healing, both for his family and for communities all across the country, but we’ve got work to do.
We’ve still got to address the violent crime situation in addition to police reform, and, you know, defunding police or getting rid of police force is not going to help us with our violent crime problem, and that’s — and so this past year I was pleased that the state Senate nearly unanimously passed our tough crime bills. They died again in the House for the second time. We have 350 murders a year, in Baltimore City and murders are up in Prince George’s County and I’m not sure how getting rid of police or defunding them is going to help with that situation.
We’ve got to do both, figure out a better way to do our policing, do more community policing. I’ve said before, we have to address some of the systemic problems. We have to do police reform, but we also — I mean, people say well let’s not put more money into police, let’s not hire more police. I think that’s a mistake. It’s like saying we want to improve education, but we’re going to cut funding for education and we’re going to get rid of teachers. We’ve got to improve the training, de-escalation techniques and body cams and more community outreach and get our police forces as strong as they can be and working with communities better. We’ve got to root out bad cops and we’ve got to heal the rifts in the community.
(Question off mic).
I’m sorry with the mask in the back of the room —
(Question off mic).
It hasn’t really been an issue that we have — that has come before us. I know the debate on both sides of the issue. You know, I’m not sure that it’s going to happen. I think certain people have been talking about it, like major league sports, for example, have talked about we can fill stadiums again if we make sure everybody has a vaccine. There are a lot of different ways to look at this situation, but, you know, it’s not something we’re focused on at the state level. I think it’s something they’re going to be trying to address at the federal level.
Thank you.