GOVERNOR HOGAN: Good afternoon. Joining me today is Maryland health secretary Dennis Schrader, the Executive Director of the Maryland Primary Care Program, Dr. Howard Haft, President and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical System, Dr. Mohan Suntha, and the President of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland, Joe Demattos.
After vaccinating 70 percent of Maryland adults by Memorial Day, a goal set by President Biden, Maryland is incredibly on track to vaccinate 80 percent of all adults by Labor Day. As of today, 79.5 percent of all Marylanders age 18 and older have been vaccinated. And we have vaccinated 94 percent of all Marylanders 65 and older.
I want to just take a moment to thank the millions of Marylanders who have gotten vaccinated. Our daily vaccination rate has increased by 20 percent over the past month, and we recently hit our highest single day of vaccinations since July 1st. As one of the nation’s most vaccinated states, both our case rate and our positivity rate are among the lowest in America. And we are much better prepared to withstand the significant summer surge of the delta variant, which many other states with lower vaccination rates are now experiencing.
Florida and Texas currently account for 40 percent of all new COVID‑19 hospitalizations in America. Florida alone has had more new cases in the past week than more than 30 states combined. Here in Maryland, our hospitalizations are down 70 percent below their peak and well within our capacities. And we remain far below any of the three pandemic triggers in our protocols. Currently, less than 9 percent of our hospitalizations are COVID related. However, the delta variant does pose a significant threat to those Marylanders who remain unvaccinated.
The delta variant continues to account for 100 percent of all new cases currently being sequenced in Maryland. Vaccines are without a doubt our single most effective tool to mitigate that threat. Nearly everyone hospitalized or dying from COVID‑19 in Maryland is unvaccinated. The vaccines are very safe, they’re very effective, and they’re completely free, and widely available nearly everywhere in our state. To find a vaccine near you, please go to covidvax.maryland.gov or call 1‑855‑MD‑GOVAX where our call center is available seven days a week. As we continue our efforts to get the remaining Marylanders vaccinated, we have transitioned from a state of emergency into an ongoing long‑term public health management response. Our main focus has always been and continues to be reducing hospitalizations and deaths, particularly among our most vulnerable Marylanders.
Last spring, all across the nation, nursing homes became ground zero in the fight against COVID‑19. In the early, very first few days of the crisis, we immediately sat down with industry leaders to figure out what actions we should take. Maryland became one of the first states in America to issue guidance to state nursing home facilities regarding instituting strict infection protocols and limiting staff travel. We further bolstered mitigation and suppression efforts at Maryland nursing homes, directing all staff who interact with residents to wear personal protective equipment. We launched state‑wide strike teams, which became a model for the rest of the nation on how to bring triage, emergency care, supplies and equipment to overburdened nursing homes. We were also one of the first states in America to require university testing for all nursing home residents and staff.
Back in December when vaccines were first approved, we immediately sent our first doses to nursing homes and hospitals. Maryland became one of the first states in the nation to activate the federal long‑term care vaccination program, prioritizing the staff and residents of our nursing homes, long‑term care facilities and assisted living facilities. We also took steps to provide full transparency to the public by launching a public data dashboard, showing vaccination data for residents and staff in each facility. 79 percent of all nursing home staff have already been vaccinated. And 18 facilities are averaging 95 percent or higher. And these are the facilities, you’ll see on the screen, with the highest staff vaccination rates, and we want to take a moment to congratulate them for their successful efforts.
But these are the facilities with the lowest vaccination rates for staff. They average only 48.9 percent, with the lowest at 40 percent, which is unacceptable, and which is endangering the lives of nursing home residents. Our dashboard will continue to highlight on a weekly basis which facilities fall into these categories. We are concerned that the delta variant surge has led to an increase in infections among staff at nursing homes, which has been a consistent source of outbreaks in these facilities throughout the pandemic. In response, today I am announcing that the Maryland Department of Health is immediately instituting new vaccination protocols for all the employees at our 227 nursing homes across the state.
Every nursing home employee will be required to show proof of vaccination. If they are unable to, they will be required to submit to regular ongoing COVID screening and testing. We will be doubling our enforcement actions for nursing homes that do not comply with state health department protocols or consistently fail to report their vaccination data. We’re also doubling the fines and stepping up civil penalties. While the state’s largest hospital system, including the University of Maryland Medical System, Johns Hopkins, Medstar, GBMC Healthcare and others, they’ve already led by example, by mandating vaccines for all of their hospital staff, but not every hospital has taken action, and some continue to have far too many unvaccinated healthcare workers, needlessly exposing their vulnerable patients in hospitals to COVID‑19 and the delta variant eight full months after vaccines have been able to healthcare workers.
This is simply not accessible. So today we’re instituting vaccination protocols for all staff working in all Maryland hospitals. These new requirements for both nursing home and hospital employees will take effect immediately. All these employees are required to get their first vaccine no later than September 1st. While the current data continues to show that the vaccines have held up extremely well against severe illness, hospitalization and death, our public health team has for the last several months been actively preparing a detailed plan for the potential utilization of third doses, or boosters to further protect everyone who got vaccinated from the current and future variants of the virus. Late last week, the FDA and CDC finally authorized states to begin providing a third vaccine dose to people who are immunocompromised.
And just this morning, federal health officials announced that boosters will be made more widely available beginning in late September. Governors across the country have become increasingly frustrated with the confusing messaging and conflicting guidance from the White House and federal government agencies regarding booster shots for the wider population. But rather than wait until the fall, we believe that the federal government should make booster shots available immediately for seniors and other vulnerable populations.
Here in Maryland in preparation for that, we launched a new antibody testing program for nursing home residents all across the state in order to ascertain their current levels of immunity. This pilot program includes 500 residents of nursing homes from across Maryland, and it will provide us with critical data regarding the need for booster shots. This is one area we’re pressing the Biden administration for action. We’re also pushing for full FDA approval of the vaccine as soon as possible. More than 4 million Marylanders and more than 200 million Americans have already gotten vaccinated. Clearly, the science shows that they’re very safe and effective, yet the lack of full approval remains the most significant hurdle to reaching those who are still hesitant. Full approval would be a significant boost to our vaccine distribution operation.
In addition with more and more children heading back to school, we’re also pushing federal officials to expedite approval so that 5 to 11‑year‑olds can begin receiving the vaccines. We’re being told this approval is still months away, but that is simply not soon enough and not good enough. So we’re going to keep pressing and we’ll keep Marylanders informed on any progress that we’re able to make with the White House and other federal officials.
Monoclonal anti‑body therapy is a tool Maryland already has available to help prevent severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths. This is the only approved and effective treatment for positive COVID individuals who are symptomatic but not yet severe enough to require hospitalizations. Thousands of Marylanders have already received monoclonal antibody therapy across the state, and it has helped us prevent hundreds of hospitalizations and deaths. Monoclonal antibodies have proven to be effective against the delta variant, and state health officials are strongly recommending much wider utilization of them for any patients with mild to moderate systems of COVID‑19 before it progresses to a more serious illness.
In a few moments, Dr. Howard Haft will provide further briefing on these treatments and resources which are now available all across Maryland. In the coming days and weeks ahead, we will continue to do what we have always done, since day one of this crisis. We will keep following the science and keep taking measured, balanced, data‑driven approach in our continuing successful efforts to respond to this pandemic. Our public health response, as I mentioned has now evolved from the urgent crisis state of emergency phase to now becoming a part of the ongoing day‑to‑day, long‑term response of our state health operations. And it remains the focus of all our healthcare heroes who continue to sacrifice sleep, time with their families, and even their own personal safety to save the lives of Marylanders. So to all of our healthcare heroes, I know that many of you are completely exhausted and stretched much too thin, and that in some ways, these surges feel like the worst kind of deja vu. We understand and we feel exactly the same way.
But please know that you have earned our eternal gratitude, and our courage and resilience continues to be an inspiration to me and to all of the people of Maryland. So thank you for continuing to show us what it means to be Maryland strong. With that, I’m going to turn the podium to Joe Demattos, the President of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland. He’s going to talk more about the importance of getting all nursing home staff fully vaccinated.
JOE DEMATTOS: Thank you, Governor. Thank you all so very much for being here. And thank you, specifically, Governor Hogan, for mandating vaccination for healthcare workers in Maryland hospitals and skilled nursing and rehab centers. We are entering several challenging weeks of this COVID‑19 surge. Following the experience of India and the United Kingdom in recent weeks, we know that this surge of the delta variant and some breakthrough cases have the potential to be very severe. Governor, what you did today is very important, because vaccination remains the single best tool to fight COVID‑19, to avoid hospitalization, and to avoid death. Governor Hogan, your announcement today will save lives.
Since you and I first met in the early days of the pandemic in March, Governor Hogan’s pattern of leadership has actually been fairly consistent. First, Governor Hogan publicly considers, then, sir, you recommend, and at times like these when more and more lives are at risk, you rightfully mandate. You’ve been recommending for weeks now, along with me, sharing your frustration on the low vaccination rates amongst some healthcare workers in nursing homes and in some hospitals. Today Governor Hogan, you are doing the right thing by moving from recommendation to mandate and requirement.
Let me be clear. I’m very proud of our sector specifically, and I’m proud of the Maryland Hospital Association and the stance it took on mandating and supporting the mandating of vaccines, and I’m proud that our American Healthcare Association issued a public statement mandating and supporting vaccines, but we need to take that extra step. Today Maryland’s numbers are better than most across the country, both in terms of the general population and in terms of skilled nursing and rehab center patients, residents and staff.
As Governor Hogan said, 89 percent of our residents and patients are vaccinated. 79 percent on average of our staff are vaccinated. But still, we have much, much farther to go, because in a handful of skilled nursing and rehab centers and in hospitals, we have staff vaccination rates closer to 40 percent. So while all employers in our sector have encourage the and provided opportunities for vaccinations, there are employees in skilled nursing and rehab centers and in hospitals, employees who have been extremely resistant to get the vaccine.
So Governor, with these mandates, we’ll all do better. And as we face this surge, which promises to be extremely challenging in the community at large and across healthcare, because of these mandates, we’ll save more lives. Governor, I would like to turn it over to Dr. Suntha.
MOHMMED SUNTHA: Thank you. And Governor, thank you. Thank you for the leadership and thank you for the way you’ve led, and you’ve done that through partnership. And so we in the hospital industry appreciate that partnership, and I think today represents just the latest example of what that partnership means. When you think about the responsibilities that we in the hospital industry have, very specifically, we hold ourselves to the highest standards when it comes to the safety and well-being of our patients, of our team members and our community. For that reason, it’s understanding the science and the data of this virus and understanding that the vaccines represent the single most effective tool we have in the arsenal to actually drive us forward and deal with the challenges associated with this pandemic that now in June we at the University of Maryland Medical System in partnership with the other academic state medical systems and Johns Hopkins, we took the step of requiring vaccination for our workforce.
We did so, again, understanding that we have this responsibility that comes with the social contract that is healthcare. As the hospital industry, we have demonstrated time and time again how we hold ourselves to the highest standard. And when we think about those standards, we think about the patients and their families who come to us seeking care, and they have an expectation that we’ve done everything within our power to limit the risk and ensure that we’re doing everything we can do to deliver patients back to their families in good health.
So as the CEO of the Medical System at the University of Maryland Medical System, I have a lot of responsibilities, none more solemn than the responsibility that I have to our patients, to our team members, and to our communities to keep them safe. And so this decision understanding the science and the data, the impact, the safety associated with vaccines and the dramatic impact vaccines have on decreasing the risk of hospitalization and death associated with COVID‑19, this is a decision that we at the system came to willingly.
I think today the mandate that you put forward to the entire hospital industry and to the healthcare industry overall I think is another step that takes us as a state of Maryland forward and demonstrates once again that we are indeed national leaders in the fight against COVID‑19. And so on behalf of the entire healthcare industry, the hospital industry, thank you for your continued support. We look forward to the continued partnership. And with that, I’m going to turn it over to Dr. Haft.
HOWARD HAFT: Thank you to, and thank you to Governor Hogan for the action he took today. I think it’s very important. I’m here to provide information on the monoclonal antibody therapy. It’s the only effective therapy for COVID‑19 patients who are not yet hospitalized. But the uses have been extended. We’re excited to share the indications of this therapy have been recently expanded to include those who are unvaccinated and/or those who have an immune incompetence, they have an immune compromised to help prevent them from getting COVID. There will be an opportunity to change in my ways the therapeutics regarding that important therapy.
This, I want to point out is not a substitute for COVID vaccinations. Everyone is still strongly encouraged to be vaccinated, as others have pointed out. But the specific indications for monoclonal antibodies under the new authorizations for post exposure prophylaxis for anyone 12 or older, weighing at least 88 pounds against COVID in individuals who are at high risk for progression to severe disease, similar to the way it’s used for treatment of those who have already been tested positive, including anyone who’s at high risk for hospitalization or death.
And again, this is mostly intended to prevent people from getting worse and needing hospitalization, but it’s also available for those who are not fully vaccinated or those who have been vaccinated but are not expected to mount a complete immune response. That is people who have immune deficiencies, people in cancer therapy, and those sorts of things. So it really is very broadly applicable, and it has been ‑‑ it’s also available to individuals who by virtue of being in a congregate facility, a long‑term care facility or prisons and are high risk in that setting, it can be used as a preventive treatment for those at high risk for getting worse, who may not have mounted a complete response to their vaccine, or who have not been vaccinated to effectively prevent them from getting severe or bad COVID, having to be hospitalized and dying.
So if you’re not fully vaccinated or are immune compromised and know you have an exposure or having contacted by a contract tracer, told you have exposure to someone who has COVID, you should consider using monoclonal antibody therapy. We’ve been administering this across the state since November of 2020 and treated over 9,200 patients today, and with that have avoided perhaps 450 or more hospitalizations and avoided at least 180 deaths. This therapy is safe and effective and widely available across 15 of our infusion sites geographically placed across the state for equitable access to everyone and also available in many emergency departments.
Here in Maryland, just like every other state, is underutilized. There are access points all across the state with capacity if we need to infuse 1,000 or more people if we need to per week. Maryland providers have been made aware of this treatment continually over the last year and know about the locations and the ways in which they can refer their patients for treatment. So if you test positive for COVID or are exposed to a known case of COVID‑19, ask your doctor if monoclonal antibodies are right for you. This treatment can help keep patients out of the hospital and prevent worsening and death. And the good news is the monoclonal antibody therapy is effective, even against the circulating variant, including the delta variant. More information if you need it can be found. You can reach out through the internet at medstarhealth.org/evisit. If you don’t have a doctor or the internet you can call 410‑649‑6122 where some of our monoclonal antibody experts who work at the convention center will be able to provide some additional resources. Thank you for your time. I’ll turn it over to Governor Hogan.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I would like to thank all of our experts for not just being here with us but for all their incredible work through the entire pandemic. I would be happy to take some questions.
(Question off mic).
JOE DEMATTOS: They are similar levels, in the high 70 range.
(Question off mic).
MOHMMED SUNTHA: Our health system was similar to the entire state. Now in the last month since we’ve required vaccination, we’ve seen a steady uptick in vaccination as we get towards that September 1st deadline requirement. We would like to see it continue to grow at a rate that’s a bit faster, and so we continue to have critical conversations with those portions of our workforce, but we started at about that 75 percent vaccination rate. We’ve seen it steadily grow, and we expect it to continue to grow significantly as we get closer to that deadline.
(Question off mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: No, we’re not anticipating having to open the mass vax site. These are like flu shots, people are going to be able to get them anywhere, their local pharmacy, primary care providers or any of our local health department facilities. We don’t need the same kind of volume during that compressed time like we did when we built the sites. We are happy that they made the announcements that they did with respect to immunocompromised folks, and I think people have already been taking advantage and getting shots across the state for the people who are most vulnerable. We’re a little concerned about waiting longer. We think we should be ready soon to move forward with our folks, for example, in the nursing homes and people who are more at risk. And the evidence is there ‑‑ they’ve already said they’re going to do it, but they’re going to wait until the end of September. Our question is why. If they know we should do it, maybe we should start doing it.
(Question off mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: No, not at all. We have an abundance right now.
(Question off mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We just want to make sure they’re utilized. We’re one of the best in the country as far as vaccinations and we want to make sure those who don’t have them, if they want them, that we’ll have them.
(Question off mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We’re not waiting for anything in particular. It’s just, we’re taking measured steps as we see fit. And we started with our ‑‑ we’re setting our own example by mandating only state workers that were dealing with congregate facility, that worked in our veterans retirement homes, nursing home facilities, people working in the prison systems and congregate living because we thought that was an action to take. This sort of follows that by saying the hospitals and the nursing homes have been trying their best and doing a pretty good job, but we want to make sure that gets done. But we’re not at the point where we need to mandate the vaccines for the broader audience. But we’ll keep watching that data. Anybody else?
(Question off mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We haven’t been talking about indoor mask requirements at all. Being 80 percent vaccinated is a good step. If we get the rest of the people vaccinated, hopefully we won’t have to revert back to some of the things we did a year ago when we didn’t have the vaccine. Thank you.
After vaccinating 70 percent of Maryland adults by Memorial Day, a goal set by President Biden, Maryland is incredibly on track to vaccinate 80 percent of all adults by Labor Day. As of today, 79.5 percent of all Marylanders age 18 and older have been vaccinated. And we have vaccinated 94 percent of all Marylanders 65 and older.
I want to just take a moment to thank the millions of Marylanders who have gotten vaccinated. Our daily vaccination rate has increased by 20 percent over the past month, and we recently hit our highest single day of vaccinations since July 1st. As one of the nation’s most vaccinated states, both our case rate and our positivity rate are among the lowest in America. And we are much better prepared to withstand the significant summer surge of the delta variant, which many other states with lower vaccination rates are now experiencing.
Florida and Texas currently account for 40 percent of all new COVID‑19 hospitalizations in America. Florida alone has had more new cases in the past week than more than 30 states combined. Here in Maryland, our hospitalizations are down 70 percent below their peak and well within our capacities. And we remain far below any of the three pandemic triggers in our protocols. Currently, less than 9 percent of our hospitalizations are COVID related. However, the delta variant does pose a significant threat to those Marylanders who remain unvaccinated.
The delta variant continues to account for 100 percent of all new cases currently being sequenced in Maryland. Vaccines are without a doubt our single most effective tool to mitigate that threat. Nearly everyone hospitalized or dying from COVID‑19 in Maryland is unvaccinated. The vaccines are very safe, they’re very effective, and they’re completely free, and widely available nearly everywhere in our state. To find a vaccine near you, please go to covidvax.maryland.gov or call 1‑855‑MD‑GOVAX where our call center is available seven days a week. As we continue our efforts to get the remaining Marylanders vaccinated, we have transitioned from a state of emergency into an ongoing long‑term public health management response. Our main focus has always been and continues to be reducing hospitalizations and deaths, particularly among our most vulnerable Marylanders.
Last spring, all across the nation, nursing homes became ground zero in the fight against COVID‑19. In the early, very first few days of the crisis, we immediately sat down with industry leaders to figure out what actions we should take. Maryland became one of the first states in America to issue guidance to state nursing home facilities regarding instituting strict infection protocols and limiting staff travel. We further bolstered mitigation and suppression efforts at Maryland nursing homes, directing all staff who interact with residents to wear personal protective equipment. We launched state‑wide strike teams, which became a model for the rest of the nation on how to bring triage, emergency care, supplies and equipment to overburdened nursing homes. We were also one of the first states in America to require university testing for all nursing home residents and staff.
Back in December when vaccines were first approved, we immediately sent our first doses to nursing homes and hospitals. Maryland became one of the first states in the nation to activate the federal long‑term care vaccination program, prioritizing the staff and residents of our nursing homes, long‑term care facilities and assisted living facilities. We also took steps to provide full transparency to the public by launching a public data dashboard, showing vaccination data for residents and staff in each facility. 79 percent of all nursing home staff have already been vaccinated. And 18 facilities are averaging 95 percent or higher. And these are the facilities, you’ll see on the screen, with the highest staff vaccination rates, and we want to take a moment to congratulate them for their successful efforts.
But these are the facilities with the lowest vaccination rates for staff. They average only 48.9 percent, with the lowest at 40 percent, which is unacceptable, and which is endangering the lives of nursing home residents. Our dashboard will continue to highlight on a weekly basis which facilities fall into these categories. We are concerned that the delta variant surge has led to an increase in infections among staff at nursing homes, which has been a consistent source of outbreaks in these facilities throughout the pandemic. In response, today I am announcing that the Maryland Department of Health is immediately instituting new vaccination protocols for all the employees at our 227 nursing homes across the state.
Every nursing home employee will be required to show proof of vaccination. If they are unable to, they will be required to submit to regular ongoing COVID screening and testing. We will be doubling our enforcement actions for nursing homes that do not comply with state health department protocols or consistently fail to report their vaccination data. We’re also doubling the fines and stepping up civil penalties. While the state’s largest hospital system, including the University of Maryland Medical System, Johns Hopkins, Medstar, GBMC Healthcare and others, they’ve already led by example, by mandating vaccines for all of their hospital staff, but not every hospital has taken action, and some continue to have far too many unvaccinated healthcare workers, needlessly exposing their vulnerable patients in hospitals to COVID‑19 and the delta variant eight full months after vaccines have been able to healthcare workers.
This is simply not accessible. So today we’re instituting vaccination protocols for all staff working in all Maryland hospitals. These new requirements for both nursing home and hospital employees will take effect immediately. All these employees are required to get their first vaccine no later than September 1st. While the current data continues to show that the vaccines have held up extremely well against severe illness, hospitalization and death, our public health team has for the last several months been actively preparing a detailed plan for the potential utilization of third doses, or boosters to further protect everyone who got vaccinated from the current and future variants of the virus. Late last week, the FDA and CDC finally authorized states to begin providing a third vaccine dose to people who are immunocompromised.
And just this morning, federal health officials announced that boosters will be made more widely available beginning in late September. Governors across the country have become increasingly frustrated with the confusing messaging and conflicting guidance from the White House and federal government agencies regarding booster shots for the wider population. But rather than wait until the fall, we believe that the federal government should make booster shots available immediately for seniors and other vulnerable populations.
Here in Maryland in preparation for that, we launched a new antibody testing program for nursing home residents all across the state in order to ascertain their current levels of immunity. This pilot program includes 500 residents of nursing homes from across Maryland, and it will provide us with critical data regarding the need for booster shots. This is one area we’re pressing the Biden administration for action. We’re also pushing for full FDA approval of the vaccine as soon as possible. More than 4 million Marylanders and more than 200 million Americans have already gotten vaccinated. Clearly, the science shows that they’re very safe and effective, yet the lack of full approval remains the most significant hurdle to reaching those who are still hesitant. Full approval would be a significant boost to our vaccine distribution operation.
In addition with more and more children heading back to school, we’re also pushing federal officials to expedite approval so that 5 to 11‑year‑olds can begin receiving the vaccines. We’re being told this approval is still months away, but that is simply not soon enough and not good enough. So we’re going to keep pressing and we’ll keep Marylanders informed on any progress that we’re able to make with the White House and other federal officials.
Monoclonal anti‑body therapy is a tool Maryland already has available to help prevent severe illness, hospitalizations and deaths. This is the only approved and effective treatment for positive COVID individuals who are symptomatic but not yet severe enough to require hospitalizations. Thousands of Marylanders have already received monoclonal antibody therapy across the state, and it has helped us prevent hundreds of hospitalizations and deaths. Monoclonal antibodies have proven to be effective against the delta variant, and state health officials are strongly recommending much wider utilization of them for any patients with mild to moderate systems of COVID‑19 before it progresses to a more serious illness.
In a few moments, Dr. Howard Haft will provide further briefing on these treatments and resources which are now available all across Maryland. In the coming days and weeks ahead, we will continue to do what we have always done, since day one of this crisis. We will keep following the science and keep taking measured, balanced, data‑driven approach in our continuing successful efforts to respond to this pandemic. Our public health response, as I mentioned has now evolved from the urgent crisis state of emergency phase to now becoming a part of the ongoing day‑to‑day, long‑term response of our state health operations. And it remains the focus of all our healthcare heroes who continue to sacrifice sleep, time with their families, and even their own personal safety to save the lives of Marylanders. So to all of our healthcare heroes, I know that many of you are completely exhausted and stretched much too thin, and that in some ways, these surges feel like the worst kind of deja vu. We understand and we feel exactly the same way.
But please know that you have earned our eternal gratitude, and our courage and resilience continues to be an inspiration to me and to all of the people of Maryland. So thank you for continuing to show us what it means to be Maryland strong. With that, I’m going to turn the podium to Joe Demattos, the President of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland. He’s going to talk more about the importance of getting all nursing home staff fully vaccinated.
JOE DEMATTOS: Thank you, Governor. Thank you all so very much for being here. And thank you, specifically, Governor Hogan, for mandating vaccination for healthcare workers in Maryland hospitals and skilled nursing and rehab centers. We are entering several challenging weeks of this COVID‑19 surge. Following the experience of India and the United Kingdom in recent weeks, we know that this surge of the delta variant and some breakthrough cases have the potential to be very severe. Governor, what you did today is very important, because vaccination remains the single best tool to fight COVID‑19, to avoid hospitalization, and to avoid death. Governor Hogan, your announcement today will save lives.
Since you and I first met in the early days of the pandemic in March, Governor Hogan’s pattern of leadership has actually been fairly consistent. First, Governor Hogan publicly considers, then, sir, you recommend, and at times like these when more and more lives are at risk, you rightfully mandate. You’ve been recommending for weeks now, along with me, sharing your frustration on the low vaccination rates amongst some healthcare workers in nursing homes and in some hospitals. Today Governor Hogan, you are doing the right thing by moving from recommendation to mandate and requirement.
Let me be clear. I’m very proud of our sector specifically, and I’m proud of the Maryland Hospital Association and the stance it took on mandating and supporting the mandating of vaccines, and I’m proud that our American Healthcare Association issued a public statement mandating and supporting vaccines, but we need to take that extra step. Today Maryland’s numbers are better than most across the country, both in terms of the general population and in terms of skilled nursing and rehab center patients, residents and staff.
As Governor Hogan said, 89 percent of our residents and patients are vaccinated. 79 percent on average of our staff are vaccinated. But still, we have much, much farther to go, because in a handful of skilled nursing and rehab centers and in hospitals, we have staff vaccination rates closer to 40 percent. So while all employers in our sector have encourage the and provided opportunities for vaccinations, there are employees in skilled nursing and rehab centers and in hospitals, employees who have been extremely resistant to get the vaccine.
So Governor, with these mandates, we’ll all do better. And as we face this surge, which promises to be extremely challenging in the community at large and across healthcare, because of these mandates, we’ll save more lives. Governor, I would like to turn it over to Dr. Suntha.
MOHMMED SUNTHA: Thank you. And Governor, thank you. Thank you for the leadership and thank you for the way you’ve led, and you’ve done that through partnership. And so we in the hospital industry appreciate that partnership, and I think today represents just the latest example of what that partnership means. When you think about the responsibilities that we in the hospital industry have, very specifically, we hold ourselves to the highest standards when it comes to the safety and well-being of our patients, of our team members and our community. For that reason, it’s understanding the science and the data of this virus and understanding that the vaccines represent the single most effective tool we have in the arsenal to actually drive us forward and deal with the challenges associated with this pandemic that now in June we at the University of Maryland Medical System in partnership with the other academic state medical systems and Johns Hopkins, we took the step of requiring vaccination for our workforce.
We did so, again, understanding that we have this responsibility that comes with the social contract that is healthcare. As the hospital industry, we have demonstrated time and time again how we hold ourselves to the highest standard. And when we think about those standards, we think about the patients and their families who come to us seeking care, and they have an expectation that we’ve done everything within our power to limit the risk and ensure that we’re doing everything we can do to deliver patients back to their families in good health.
So as the CEO of the Medical System at the University of Maryland Medical System, I have a lot of responsibilities, none more solemn than the responsibility that I have to our patients, to our team members, and to our communities to keep them safe. And so this decision understanding the science and the data, the impact, the safety associated with vaccines and the dramatic impact vaccines have on decreasing the risk of hospitalization and death associated with COVID‑19, this is a decision that we at the system came to willingly.
I think today the mandate that you put forward to the entire hospital industry and to the healthcare industry overall I think is another step that takes us as a state of Maryland forward and demonstrates once again that we are indeed national leaders in the fight against COVID‑19. And so on behalf of the entire healthcare industry, the hospital industry, thank you for your continued support. We look forward to the continued partnership. And with that, I’m going to turn it over to Dr. Haft.
HOWARD HAFT: Thank you to, and thank you to Governor Hogan for the action he took today. I think it’s very important. I’m here to provide information on the monoclonal antibody therapy. It’s the only effective therapy for COVID‑19 patients who are not yet hospitalized. But the uses have been extended. We’re excited to share the indications of this therapy have been recently expanded to include those who are unvaccinated and/or those who have an immune incompetence, they have an immune compromised to help prevent them from getting COVID. There will be an opportunity to change in my ways the therapeutics regarding that important therapy.
This, I want to point out is not a substitute for COVID vaccinations. Everyone is still strongly encouraged to be vaccinated, as others have pointed out. But the specific indications for monoclonal antibodies under the new authorizations for post exposure prophylaxis for anyone 12 or older, weighing at least 88 pounds against COVID in individuals who are at high risk for progression to severe disease, similar to the way it’s used for treatment of those who have already been tested positive, including anyone who’s at high risk for hospitalization or death.
And again, this is mostly intended to prevent people from getting worse and needing hospitalization, but it’s also available for those who are not fully vaccinated or those who have been vaccinated but are not expected to mount a complete immune response. That is people who have immune deficiencies, people in cancer therapy, and those sorts of things. So it really is very broadly applicable, and it has been ‑‑ it’s also available to individuals who by virtue of being in a congregate facility, a long‑term care facility or prisons and are high risk in that setting, it can be used as a preventive treatment for those at high risk for getting worse, who may not have mounted a complete response to their vaccine, or who have not been vaccinated to effectively prevent them from getting severe or bad COVID, having to be hospitalized and dying.
So if you’re not fully vaccinated or are immune compromised and know you have an exposure or having contacted by a contract tracer, told you have exposure to someone who has COVID, you should consider using monoclonal antibody therapy. We’ve been administering this across the state since November of 2020 and treated over 9,200 patients today, and with that have avoided perhaps 450 or more hospitalizations and avoided at least 180 deaths. This therapy is safe and effective and widely available across 15 of our infusion sites geographically placed across the state for equitable access to everyone and also available in many emergency departments.
Here in Maryland, just like every other state, is underutilized. There are access points all across the state with capacity if we need to infuse 1,000 or more people if we need to per week. Maryland providers have been made aware of this treatment continually over the last year and know about the locations and the ways in which they can refer their patients for treatment. So if you test positive for COVID or are exposed to a known case of COVID‑19, ask your doctor if monoclonal antibodies are right for you. This treatment can help keep patients out of the hospital and prevent worsening and death. And the good news is the monoclonal antibody therapy is effective, even against the circulating variant, including the delta variant. More information if you need it can be found. You can reach out through the internet at medstarhealth.org/evisit. If you don’t have a doctor or the internet you can call 410‑649‑6122 where some of our monoclonal antibody experts who work at the convention center will be able to provide some additional resources. Thank you for your time. I’ll turn it over to Governor Hogan.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I would like to thank all of our experts for not just being here with us but for all their incredible work through the entire pandemic. I would be happy to take some questions.
(Question off mic).
JOE DEMATTOS: They are similar levels, in the high 70 range.
(Question off mic).
MOHMMED SUNTHA: Our health system was similar to the entire state. Now in the last month since we’ve required vaccination, we’ve seen a steady uptick in vaccination as we get towards that September 1st deadline requirement. We would like to see it continue to grow at a rate that’s a bit faster, and so we continue to have critical conversations with those portions of our workforce, but we started at about that 75 percent vaccination rate. We’ve seen it steadily grow, and we expect it to continue to grow significantly as we get closer to that deadline.
(Question off mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: No, we’re not anticipating having to open the mass vax site. These are like flu shots, people are going to be able to get them anywhere, their local pharmacy, primary care providers or any of our local health department facilities. We don’t need the same kind of volume during that compressed time like we did when we built the sites. We are happy that they made the announcements that they did with respect to immunocompromised folks, and I think people have already been taking advantage and getting shots across the state for the people who are most vulnerable. We’re a little concerned about waiting longer. We think we should be ready soon to move forward with our folks, for example, in the nursing homes and people who are more at risk. And the evidence is there ‑‑ they’ve already said they’re going to do it, but they’re going to wait until the end of September. Our question is why. If they know we should do it, maybe we should start doing it.
(Question off mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: No, not at all. We have an abundance right now.
(Question off mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We just want to make sure they’re utilized. We’re one of the best in the country as far as vaccinations and we want to make sure those who don’t have them, if they want them, that we’ll have them.
(Question off mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We’re not waiting for anything in particular. It’s just, we’re taking measured steps as we see fit. And we started with our ‑‑ we’re setting our own example by mandating only state workers that were dealing with congregate facility, that worked in our veterans retirement homes, nursing home facilities, people working in the prison systems and congregate living because we thought that was an action to take. This sort of follows that by saying the hospitals and the nursing homes have been trying their best and doing a pretty good job, but we want to make sure that gets done. But we’re not at the point where we need to mandate the vaccines for the broader audience. But we’ll keep watching that data. Anybody else?
(Question off mic).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We haven’t been talking about indoor mask requirements at all. Being 80 percent vaccinated is a good step. If we get the rest of the people vaccinated, hopefully we won’t have to revert back to some of the things we did a year ago when we didn’t have the vaccine. Thank you.