GOVERNOR HOGAN: Good evening. Joining me today are Lieutenant Governor Boyd Rutherford, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Aging, Rona Kramer, and Deputy Secretary of Maryland Department of Health, Dr. Jinlene Chan.
On Tuesday I joined Vice President Pence on a teleconference with the National Governors Association coronavirus task force. I just got off of an NGA call with President-elect Biden’s transition team. Prior to that I spoke with Jeff Zients, the incoming White House COVID-19 coordinator.
Earlier this week I announced that Maryland’s first two confirmed cases of the B117 variant, also known as the U.K. variant of COVID-19, are here in Maryland. This strain is more transmissible or contagious, and we are concerned about the threat of increasing the spread of the disease. However, the good news is it has not been shown to cause more severe illness or increased risk of death.
As was expected, we are now entering the most challenging days of the pandemic, and the key to slowing this virus is testing and therapeutics. And the solution to bringing this crisis to an end will be vigilance and vaccines. We’re all looking forward to the day when we can take off and throw away the damn masks and when we can get all of our children back in school, a time when we can go out for a big celebration in a crowded restaurant or bar with our family and friends. And those days are coming. But only if we keep doing the things that keep us safe.
A return to a sense of normalcy has been made possible by COVID-19 vaccines, which have been approved by America’s leading medical experts and which have a 95 percent efficacy. The process was rigorous and transparent throughout, with continual FDA oversight and expert approval. For those who worry about long-term side effects, the likelihood of any serious side effects is less than 0.5 percent. And when they do occur, they’re typically just signs that your body is building up protection against the virus. They’re usually very minor and go away in a couple of days.
Getting vaccinated is critical to preventing more illnesses and more deaths, and it will keep you, your family, your friends, and your community healthy and safe.
So far we have a limited supply of vaccines available to us, so our initial allocation of COVID-19 vaccinations has been focused on phase 1A of our approved plan. First in line were our critical healthcare workers and first responders and those most at risk for contracting the virus, including nursing home residents and staff.
As of today, the state of Maryland has successfully allocated, deployed, and distributed 547,300 doses of vaccines directly to those responsible for doing the vaccines at hospitals, nursing homes, and local Health Departments for all of the priority 1A populations.
This represents 99.6 percent of all the doses that the federal government has allotted to the state of Maryland. 320,200 doses have been deployed to Maryland hospitals. For them, to vaccinate their own healthcare workers. To date they have administered 112,175 doses to their staff, 35 percent of their supply.
We deployed and delivered 137,425 doses to every single one of the county Health Departments in Maryland. For them to be able to vaccinate their own essential healthcare staff, along with their first responders in their counties. The 24 jurisdictions have administered 56,621 of those doses, which is 41.2 percent of what we had deployed and delivered to them.
61,425 of Maryland’s doses were sent directly from the federal government to CVS and Walgreens, which have a federal contract to administer vaccines in our 227 nursing homes across the state. CVS reports that it has now completed vaccination clinics at 94 percent of its nursing homes, and Walgreens has completed clinics at 76 percent of its nursing homes. These providers continue to steadily accelerate the pace of their vaccinations.
What we actually receive from the federal government is approximately 10,000 first doses per day. At our current pace of allocation, we are far outpacing that supply. Today once again the state reported record high 16,644 vaccinations, for a cumulative total of 186,414 first doses completed. In addition, 15,842 second doses have already been completed to those initial 1A recipients for a total of 202,254 doses that have been administered to date.
Maryland has administered more doses than 32 other states.
After conferring with CDC director Bob Redfield, Vice President Pence, and President-elect Biden’s team, and our own leading public health experts, who immediately reviewed the new revised guidance issued just this week by the CDC, and after a thorough review, today I am pleased to announce that the state of Maryland is now activating phase 1B of the COVID-19 vaccination plan. On Monday, January 18, eligible groups will be expanded statewide to include all Marylanders 75 and over, as well as anyone of any age living in assisted living or independent living facilities and developmental disabilities and behavioral health group homes.
In addition, those now eligible in phase 1B include all K-12 teachers, education staff, as well as childcare providers.
We have also activated part B of the federal CVS and Walgreens partnership to now include assisted living and all other long-term care facilities.
We are launching a pilot program with Walmart and Giant to begin administering vaccines at many of their pharmacies. This pilot program will begin the following Monday, January 25th, at 22 Giant locations across the state as well as their 3 Martin’s locations in Washington and Allegany Counties, and will also include 10 Walmart locations primarily on the Eastern Shore and western Maryland.
When the state begins to receive higher allocations from the federal government, we will then be able to rapidly expand this program to include more and more pharmacies and at many more locations across the state.
Starting Monday we are directing all Maryland hospitals and county Health Departments to begin utilizing their remaining doses by opening up phase 1B clinics focused on the elderly. This evening we are also launching an online portal where you’ll be able to find a list of vaccination sites in your area, as well as all the appropriate contact information for the various vaccinators. The address is covidvax.maryland.gov.
Because of the limited supply of vaccines that we’re currently being allocated, these vaccinations will be done on an appointment-only basis at this time.
For teachers and education staff, the state superintendent of schools has submitted plans for how each county school system will vaccinate its teachers and county school systems will begin implementing those plans in the coming weeks.
I’m also pleased to announce tonight that in addition to moving on to phase 1B on Monday, we have also accelerated the plan to enable moving into 1C beginning the following Monday, January 25. In phase 1C, we will expand and be able to open to all adults between the ages of 65-74 anywhere in the state.
We want to stress to all the vaccination providers that as part of our what we call Southwest Airlines distribution model, they do not need to wait until they finish all of the people in one group before moving on to the next one. Our primary goal is for them to get more shots into arms, the arms of more people in our vulnerable populations as quickly as they can.
Some county leaders have requested flexibility in how they use the doses that we have provided to them, so we have now granted them that flexibility to move into the next groups in line as they see fit, as long as they continue to prioritize the elderly and the most vulnerable populations in their jurisdictions.
In anticipation of a time when the production of vaccines can increase, and the federal government is able to increase the number that our state receives, the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland National Guard are currently working with county Health Departments and with private partners to open mass vaccination sites at central locations across the state. The state will continue to provide doses to those responsible for doing the vaccinating with any possible assistance we can to help them ramp up their pace, and we will continue to provide them with all the tools and resources they may need to help them get more shots into more arms more quickly.
As I announced last week, the National Guard has already begun dispatching emergency vaccination teams to county Health Departments who have requested help in order to expand their county vaccination clinics. Every day this week the Maryland National Guard has been assisting the Prince George’s County Health Department. They’ve also been assisting Charles County as well.
The Guard is also serving as a force multiplier and providing support personnel to supplement licensed healthcare providers at COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites. Through the Maryland Responds Medical Reserve Corps, we have recruited and allocated more than 750 capable volunteers for county vaccination clinics. 10 jurisdictions including Cecil, Charles, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery, Somerset, and Wicomico Counties as well as Baltimore County and Baltimore City have taken advantage of this, and six more jurisdictions have now initiated the process to receive volunteers.
In addition, today we are issuing a state health order which allows out of state practitioners to be able to prepare and administer vaccines in Maryland. We will continue to provide whatever personnel and resources that the vaccinators need in order to help them increase their pace and to utilize all of the allocations that we are delivering and deploying to them.
I know that many Marylanders will be pleased to hear that we were able to accelerate our time line and that we will be opening up more eligibility much sooner than expected, but I want to strongly caution that this will continue to be a long process. Going forward, our greatest limiting factor by far will be supply. As of today, we have received, as I said, approximately 547,000 doses. And this is divided up between first doses and second doses. The number of people just in phase 1 of our plan is 1.5 million people, and they need two doses. So that’s 3 million doses that we need just to be able to vaccinate the people in phase 1 before we even talk about phase 2 and 3.
Overall this will require 12 million doses to get to two doses for all Marylanders. Right now we have received 4.5 percent of that amount. So this is going to take a long time, a great deal of patience, and a lot more vaccines: We need a commitment from the companies that are making the vaccines to make more of them. We need a commitment from the incoming Biden Administration to get us more of those doses. And then we need to determine which Maryland providers can get those shots into arms the fastest and what we can do to help them.
You’ve seen stories in the media I’m sure about how the vaccines are not being used fast enough. Soon that will change to seeing stories that there are not enough vaccines for all of the people that want them. I’m sure we’ll be seeing lots of national coverage about people in long lines or on long waiting lists and why everybody hasn’t been able to get a vaccine yet.
Here in Maryland, we’re going to continue to proceed following our effective, fact, and data-based approach using our science-based protocols because we do not want to see what we’ve seen in other states where older people are left out in the cold camping out in parking lots all night long, only to be told in the morning that they’ve run out of vaccines. That should never happen. So once again, I want to remind all Marylanders that getting vaccinated is the single most important thing that you can do right now to save lives and to protect your friends and your family and your community. If you have a parent, grandparent, or an aunt, uncle, neighbor, or friend who is 65 or older, encourage them to get vaccinated. And if you can, help them to plan to get vaccinated.
By getting this effective and safe vaccine, all of us can play an important part in returning to normal, ending the damage to our economy, and preventing more illnesses and deaths in our state, and eliminating and eradicating this pandemic once and for all.
One critical tool that we’ve used to help Marylanders weather this pandemic is expanding the use of telehealth services. To talk more about additional steps we’re taking on telehealth initiatives, I’m going to turn it over to Lieutenant Governor Rutherford.
Good afternoon, everyone. As the Governor mentioned, we are announcing several measures to enhance and improve telehealth services for Marylanders. I’m particularly pleased at the effect that these initiatives will have on Marylanders’ ability to access mental health treatment. The bills that we are announcing today will increase access to this critical healthcare service. For the last couple of years, I have been leading the commission to study mental and behavioral health in Maryland. The commission’s mission is to identify barriers to healthcare, particularly those who are individuals having a mental health crisis.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the lives of Marylanders, particularly those struggling with mental and behavioral health disorders. The Governor’s emergency actions and response to the pandemic, particularly in the area of telehealth, have lifted barriers to mental and behavioral health services that under normal circumstances would have prevented our friends, families, and neighbors from accessing the treatment that they needed.
As we noted in the commission’s annual report, which we released today, it’s become clear that we need to keep these programs permanent. The expanding telehealth reimbursement for audio-only telehealth services bill will codify current emergency orders requiring insurance carriers and Medicaid to reimburse for audio-only telehealth services. It will expand telehealth services for individuals who do not have access to videoconferencing equipment or broadband service. And it will increase access to critical counseling services for substance use disorder and mental health issues made worse by the pandemic.
Early on in the commission’s work, we identified the need to access care or need for the access of care to allow licensed professionals in other states to provide services to patients in Maryland. Accordingly, the healthcare practitioners’ telehealth bill will allow for healthcare providers licensed by other states to perform telehealth services for patients here in Maryland. It will require the same standard of care that all Maryland healthcare providers must follow. And it applies to all health occupations that provide telehealth services.
Just prior to the onset of the pandemic, the Behavioral Health Administration conducted a survey of mental health and substance use disorder treatment providers. The survey found that these providers reported that they did not believe they had adequate staff to provide quality care. 79 percent of psychologists, 77 percent of social workers, and 70 percent of psychiatrists reported shortages, and it’s even more acute in the Baltimore Washington corridor. This legislation will increase the number of healthcare providers available to address unmet demand for critical healthcare services.
And lastly, the board of professional counselors interstate compact bill will allow professional counselors licensed in other states that participate in the compact to serve patients located in Maryland. It will allow Maryland professional counselors to provide services to patients in states participating in the compact. The compact itself will become effective when 10 or more states participate. Joining the compact will increase the number of professional counselors available to serve Maryland patients who need critical behavioral health and substance use disorder services. The ability to recruit addiction treatment professionals has been long hampered by unnecessary barriers to hiring professionals who are licensed in other states.
Before I turn it back over to the Governor, but I think I’m going to be turning it over to the Secretary, I want to reiterate the Governor’s message regarding vaccines and urge all Marylanders who are currently eligible to receive the vaccine to do so. No one out there, especially those in high-risk categories or front line and essential workers to think that they don’t need to worry about the virus, the fact is that no one knows how the virus may affect them. Whether it’s a little symptom, a few symptoms, or an ICU stay. You won’t know until it happens. So I don’t know about you, but I would rather not find out myself. So the vaccine is on the way, and this is a crisis that needs to be addressed so that we can get back to normal. So get that vaccine as soon as are you able.
With that, I would like to turn it over to Rona Kramer, our great Secretary of the Department of Aging.
RONA KRAMER: Thank you. Thank you, Lieutenant Governor.
And thank you, Governor.
I would like to take this time to note the extraordinary work that you and the Department of Health have accomplished to get Maryland to this point. It is true that this will be the largest peacetime mission that any of us accomplish in our lifetime, and your leadership has been absolutely steadfast throughout.
As the Governor said, Maryland is now moving into phase 1B of the state’s vaccine plan. With this shift, vaccinations will now be available for essentially all of Maryland’s most vulnerable population. All adults 75 or older and those in long-term care facilities, nursing homes, assisted livings, and who live in independent living congregate settings.
If you are in a long-term care facility, CVS and Walgreens will be the primary coordinator of the vaccine effort. Your local Health Department may assist and in some cases schedule certain facilities earlier than others, depending on availability of the vaccines. There is no need for anyone in a long-term care facility to leave the facility in order to obtain the vaccine. The vaccines will come to you through the CVS or Walgreens vaccination teams.
If you are 75 and older but not living in a long-term care facility, we ask that you visit covidvax.maryland.gov to find a vaccination clinic near you or contact your local Health Department or federally qualified health center to receive more information on how to schedule a vaccine appointment. The Maryland Department of Aging will work closely with the Department of Health to facilitate outreach to our senior communities regarding the vital information to come and to ensure that they understand what options are available to them as we begin phase 1B.
It’s important not just for our seniors but for all Marylanders to know these vaccines are safe and effective. We’ve heard that. It bears repeating. It’s crucial that you get information from trusted sources, so, again, please visit the Department of Health’s website, covidvax.maryland.gov. We thank all Marylanders for their resolve during this process as well as for your understanding that it is critical that we prioritize our vulnerable seniors in this stage.
I ask that if you have someone in your family or close to you who meets these 1B requirements, that you assist them in getting the information they need so that we can assure the swift dispersement of the vaccine to the older communities. I want to finish by reassuring our seniors and their families that help is on the way. The Department of Aging and I will work tirelessly to help you get your vaccination.
With that, I will turn the podium over to our next speaker, Dr. Jinlene Chan, Deputy Secretary at the Department of Health.
JINLENE CHAN: Good evening. Thank you, Secretary Kramer. Thank you, Governor, Lieutenant Governor.
I wanted to focus my remarks tonight on something other than vaccine. We have spoken about over the course of this press conference as well as in prior ones about the importance of vaccines, and we continue to push out more and more vaccine as we get it from our federal partners.
However, I also wanted to highlight an important development that we have here in the state, an important treatment for monoclonal antibodies, a treatment that makes antibodies that mimic a person’s natural antibodies if they were to become affected with COVID-19 to actually protect them against the infection and disease.
So these were approved in November by the FDA under an Emergency Use Authorization, and has been deployed by the state in multiple locations for individuals who are high risk and also have a positive COVID test.
When this treatment is given to an eligible patient, this person actually, what the studies have shown, is that there is a reduced risk of hospitalization as well as emergency department visits. These can reduce the need for individuals to go to the hospital. And because the monoclonal antibodies actually reduce the viral load or replication in the body, they also reduce symptoms.
We wanted to highlight this because we believe that in conjunction with vaccine, that this treatment can help prevent hospitalizations and more serious complications from the disease.
So this is something that if the person is at high risk, so what that means are individuals who may have chronic kidney disease, who have diabetes, or conditions that suppress their immune systems, if they are older than 65 or if they’re older than 55 with heart disease or chronic lung disease, they may be eligible if they contract the infection.
This is an IV infusion, so this is not a treatment that someone can take in their home. It’s an IV infusion. So what that means is they would need to go to a specialized healthcare setting and actually receive an intravenous infusion over about an hour.
Because of that, the Maryland Department of Health has been working with hospital partners across the state as well as other healthcare providers to offer these monoclonal antibody treatments in situations where a person’s healthcare provider feels it’s appropriate.
In addition, we have partnered with nursing homes across the state. And at this point in time, 90 percent of the nursing homes in the state of Maryland have access to obtain this monoclonal antibody treatment for patients within nursing homes who may be eligible. We are working to make sure that all nursing homes have access as well, and at this point in time, it’s 90 percent.
I do encourage that people who have been diagnosed recently with COVID-19 and who may have an underlying condition, that they speak with a healthcare provider to see if monoclonal antibody may be something that could benefit them. I encourage people to find out more about this treatment and this information is available on our website at covidlink.maryland.gov. And there will be information not only about the treatment and what it is in more detail, but also a form for the providers to fill out with information about where these infusion sites are. We continue to expand locations around the state. There are seven currently available to individuals across the state, and we are adding four more next week. So we continue to expand this resource and we encourage individuals to learn about it. And if they are eligible, to ask for the treatment.
So thank you so much, and Governor, I will turn it to you.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Thank you. I’ll take questions.
(Question off mic).
If it’s important, she has all the real knowledge. We’ll bring Dr. Chan back up.
(Question off mic).
We northeast every day. The information today I think is 28.5 percent of the total doses that they have, but what they’re doing is now they’re going to move them to where they have contracts because the nursing homes are only 70 percent full, not 100 percent full. The number of people who did not want to take the vaccine. It’s not a mandatory requirement. So they have more doses left over. But as you pointed out, we have clinics that are at 94 percent. CVS has 76 percent. For Walgreens, they have a few more to knock out. They probably will finish all of them in a week. But they can’t make everybody take the vaccine. So they have more left over all of which they will use on all the other groups that we’ve opened up.
They’re the lowest percentage, lower than the hospitals and lower than the Health Departments, but they also have been ramping it up and they will use every one of them. It will just be in different locations.
(Question off mic).
Yeah, not one of them is ever going to go to waste, and that’s why we’re now saying, we had enough for every single person. If they don’t want them, we’re moving to the next group. They’re going to use them all up. But trust me, I’ve talked to the CEO and the President of CVS and Walgreens, our federal partners multiple times, trying to figure out why they’re lagging behind, but I think it will improve.
(Question off mic).
I guess on the first question, they can, the minute they get it, start putting it in somebody’s arm. So in the beginning it was taking some time for everybody ever to set up the process and figure out how they were going to go about it in the Health Departments and some of them needed help that we’re now providing the things that they requested. Things are ramping up. There’s a chart. It’s going like this. We started out well below. We’re far outpacing the supply, so the problem is we’ll run out soon. We get 10,000 a day and we’re giving 16,000 a day, so soon we’ll have the opposite problem. So it was slower but there’s no reason why they can’t start sticking them all in somebody’s arm as soon as they get them.
Kids back in school? I want to get kids back in school as quickly as we possibly can. I was happy to hear that is something that the president-elect is also saying. It’s something that the providing officers in both houses of our legislature have said. So that’s why our state superintendent of schools has been working with all the county systems to make sure that they have plans and are ready to start vaccinating all the teachers. All of the other educational staff. As well as the childcare providers, so we can get our kids back to school. Everybody wants that.
(Question off mic).
Well, it’s a huge concern, which is why I sort of repeated it multiple times about the safety, the efficacy. It’s why the Lieutenant Governor mentioned it. I think all four of us said that it is safe and it’s critically important, because that’s been I guess — you know, we knew there was certain reluctance in certain communities that we had to work on, and we’re about to launch a major marketing campaign with lots of people to help be role models to convince people to use the vaccine. But I’m a little surprised that so many people, you know, we sent all these things out there. Some of it was just them getting organized, holidays and all of that. It’s only been a couple of weeks. But some of it was people saying, I don’t want it. So that’s why we’re moving along to the next group. We’re going to have to convince all those people to get it.
(Question off mic).
I think that’s a good idea, Brian. I think we will do that. I said I wanted to get them first to the hospitals and the nursing homes, which we already did. And now we’re already opening it up to five or six other groups. So I think we haven’t got an exact time, but we will do that publicly. I’m sure. We’re going to go out and try to recruit some other visible people in the community and we want to get everybody vaccinated to show people it’s safe. I’m going to do that sometime soon. It’s just not scheduled yet.
(Question off mic).
I mean, the systems have all been overwhelmed for 10 months, but this is a new thing. We’re the first state in the country to be ready to process these new extended unemployment benefits. The demand has been huge. You know, we built an entire new system which was functioning well for a while. As of today, by the way, we’ve done 95 percent of all claims are settled. 830,000 some people have been paid. $8.4 billion. There are about 5 percent that are unresolved, and we’re going to ask the legislature to fix a problem. We’re one of only four states in the country that we can’t get fast answers because we’re required to have a long, drawn-out appeals process that can take 6-12 months, can’t be done on the phone, can’t be done on a computer. So I think we’re going to ask the legislature to fix the original legislation, but right now we’re still doing better than any other state in America. The 5 percent, I want every single person to get resolved. Some of them we can’t by law. But the phone calls, this week it’s far higher volume than ever before. One because the national economy is continuing to tank, and two because they just offered these new benefits and everybody is confused about it and asking questions about it, and it’s much easier to handle hundreds of thousands of claims with a computer than it is, you know, even if you have 1,000 people answering phones, if you have 20,000 calls coming in, it’s hard. These are long, drawn-out questions. We’ll try to improve it. I think we’re ahead of almost every state.
(Question off mic).
No, we haven’t. There’s no open data. But that’s obviously the main push is to get everybody back in school. Why teachers said they needed to have the vaccine, needed to be prioritized. It’s what the President-elect is saying, and I think he’s pushing back on the teachers’ union. Might have some impact. But it’s what — there’s complete unanimous agreement. I heard Senator Ferguson yesterday was his priority is getting kids back in school. It’s been mine since July. It’s Joe Biden’s top priority. And now we are vaccinating all of them so we can get kids back in school. But we’re not going to mandate it and dictate when. We’re not allowed to.
(Question off mic).
I don’t know what they’re going to do or when they’re going to do it. I know that vetoes have to start in the House and they won’t be back in until February so it won’t happen real soon.
I’ve said over and over again, look, I know they want to go back and rewrite some new legislation. We just came up with another 1.2 billion for education in the stimulus. Our budget is once again providing more money than the legislation has called for. We’re holding harmless all the jurisdictions. We’re record funding education for the sixth year in a row. But absolutely, no on $4 billion in tax increases. Absolute worst thing they could possibly think of. I don’t think they will do it. If they were to try to override the veto, they’ll scrap the bill and start over. But I can tell you regardless of what they do, I am not going to forge a $4 billion tax increase on Marylanders in the middle of the worst economic crisis in our lifetime.
(Question off mic).
The easy one to do is your age because everybody has some identification and should show their age and can show that anywhere at any of the provider points. That’s one of the easiest ways for us to do it.
The other ones they show that they’re before in phase 1A was all the medical, licensed medical personnel everywhere, so they just said, I’m a nurse, I’m a doctor, I work for a Health Department, I work in a pharmacy. I don’t know all the details. Maybe Dr. Chan can tell. But each of the providers have ways to make sure people are not skipping line, that people not qualified won’t get the vaccine.
(Question off mic).
The easiest way is to go on the website that we just launched this evening or we’re doing it right now as we speak. You should be able to go on there and it should work. That’s the easiest way, so you have one place to gather all the information.
The information is going to change every day, if not by the hour, as the vaccines come in. I know that Vice President Biden is having a press conference at 7:00 tonight where he will announce a new plan. I think they’re going to provide a lot more help as far as money to the states that help us withstanding up our mass vaccination clinic. I think they’re also going to try to provide a lot more doses to the states so we can do broader populations, but as I pointed out, right now we have 4.5 percent of the vaccines that we need. We have 500,000 out of the 3 million we need just for phase 1. So no, I can’t tell every person exactly when they’re going to get it and exactly how fast and where, but I know that they can go and find out who has them and try to make an appointment, but not everybody is going to get an appointment until we have enough vaccines and we do not have enough vaccines.
SPEAKER: Last question.
(Question off mic).
JINLENE CHAN: Are you referring to the hospital numbers? There was an error in reporting and it was corrected once we realized it. It was just a feed from those hospitals. So it’s resolved.
(Question off mic).
JINLENE CHAN: It was a data entry error.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Yeah, I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus, but Johns Hopkins made a mistake in entering data. They had like 100 some numbers off in the hospitalizations and we corrected it.
Did you say last question?
(Question off mic).
No, we want them to use every bit of it. We were talking about this with Dr. Chan. We shouldn’t have any wasted doses. The others left over, make another dose out of it and use.
(Question off mic).
Yeah, I mean, there’s a whole detailed plan. I just told you the ones that we had moved up earlier. But the rest of the plan is still the same as it was before. Although hopefully we can continue to accelerate if we can get some more vaccines.
Thank you.
On Tuesday I joined Vice President Pence on a teleconference with the National Governors Association coronavirus task force. I just got off of an NGA call with President-elect Biden’s transition team. Prior to that I spoke with Jeff Zients, the incoming White House COVID-19 coordinator.
Earlier this week I announced that Maryland’s first two confirmed cases of the B117 variant, also known as the U.K. variant of COVID-19, are here in Maryland. This strain is more transmissible or contagious, and we are concerned about the threat of increasing the spread of the disease. However, the good news is it has not been shown to cause more severe illness or increased risk of death.
As was expected, we are now entering the most challenging days of the pandemic, and the key to slowing this virus is testing and therapeutics. And the solution to bringing this crisis to an end will be vigilance and vaccines. We’re all looking forward to the day when we can take off and throw away the damn masks and when we can get all of our children back in school, a time when we can go out for a big celebration in a crowded restaurant or bar with our family and friends. And those days are coming. But only if we keep doing the things that keep us safe.
A return to a sense of normalcy has been made possible by COVID-19 vaccines, which have been approved by America’s leading medical experts and which have a 95 percent efficacy. The process was rigorous and transparent throughout, with continual FDA oversight and expert approval. For those who worry about long-term side effects, the likelihood of any serious side effects is less than 0.5 percent. And when they do occur, they’re typically just signs that your body is building up protection against the virus. They’re usually very minor and go away in a couple of days.
Getting vaccinated is critical to preventing more illnesses and more deaths, and it will keep you, your family, your friends, and your community healthy and safe.
So far we have a limited supply of vaccines available to us, so our initial allocation of COVID-19 vaccinations has been focused on phase 1A of our approved plan. First in line were our critical healthcare workers and first responders and those most at risk for contracting the virus, including nursing home residents and staff.
As of today, the state of Maryland has successfully allocated, deployed, and distributed 547,300 doses of vaccines directly to those responsible for doing the vaccines at hospitals, nursing homes, and local Health Departments for all of the priority 1A populations.
This represents 99.6 percent of all the doses that the federal government has allotted to the state of Maryland. 320,200 doses have been deployed to Maryland hospitals. For them, to vaccinate their own healthcare workers. To date they have administered 112,175 doses to their staff, 35 percent of their supply.
We deployed and delivered 137,425 doses to every single one of the county Health Departments in Maryland. For them to be able to vaccinate their own essential healthcare staff, along with their first responders in their counties. The 24 jurisdictions have administered 56,621 of those doses, which is 41.2 percent of what we had deployed and delivered to them.
61,425 of Maryland’s doses were sent directly from the federal government to CVS and Walgreens, which have a federal contract to administer vaccines in our 227 nursing homes across the state. CVS reports that it has now completed vaccination clinics at 94 percent of its nursing homes, and Walgreens has completed clinics at 76 percent of its nursing homes. These providers continue to steadily accelerate the pace of their vaccinations.
What we actually receive from the federal government is approximately 10,000 first doses per day. At our current pace of allocation, we are far outpacing that supply. Today once again the state reported record high 16,644 vaccinations, for a cumulative total of 186,414 first doses completed. In addition, 15,842 second doses have already been completed to those initial 1A recipients for a total of 202,254 doses that have been administered to date.
Maryland has administered more doses than 32 other states.
After conferring with CDC director Bob Redfield, Vice President Pence, and President-elect Biden’s team, and our own leading public health experts, who immediately reviewed the new revised guidance issued just this week by the CDC, and after a thorough review, today I am pleased to announce that the state of Maryland is now activating phase 1B of the COVID-19 vaccination plan. On Monday, January 18, eligible groups will be expanded statewide to include all Marylanders 75 and over, as well as anyone of any age living in assisted living or independent living facilities and developmental disabilities and behavioral health group homes.
In addition, those now eligible in phase 1B include all K-12 teachers, education staff, as well as childcare providers.
We have also activated part B of the federal CVS and Walgreens partnership to now include assisted living and all other long-term care facilities.
We are launching a pilot program with Walmart and Giant to begin administering vaccines at many of their pharmacies. This pilot program will begin the following Monday, January 25th, at 22 Giant locations across the state as well as their 3 Martin’s locations in Washington and Allegany Counties, and will also include 10 Walmart locations primarily on the Eastern Shore and western Maryland.
When the state begins to receive higher allocations from the federal government, we will then be able to rapidly expand this program to include more and more pharmacies and at many more locations across the state.
Starting Monday we are directing all Maryland hospitals and county Health Departments to begin utilizing their remaining doses by opening up phase 1B clinics focused on the elderly. This evening we are also launching an online portal where you’ll be able to find a list of vaccination sites in your area, as well as all the appropriate contact information for the various vaccinators. The address is covidvax.maryland.gov.
Because of the limited supply of vaccines that we’re currently being allocated, these vaccinations will be done on an appointment-only basis at this time.
For teachers and education staff, the state superintendent of schools has submitted plans for how each county school system will vaccinate its teachers and county school systems will begin implementing those plans in the coming weeks.
I’m also pleased to announce tonight that in addition to moving on to phase 1B on Monday, we have also accelerated the plan to enable moving into 1C beginning the following Monday, January 25. In phase 1C, we will expand and be able to open to all adults between the ages of 65-74 anywhere in the state.
We want to stress to all the vaccination providers that as part of our what we call Southwest Airlines distribution model, they do not need to wait until they finish all of the people in one group before moving on to the next one. Our primary goal is for them to get more shots into arms, the arms of more people in our vulnerable populations as quickly as they can.
Some county leaders have requested flexibility in how they use the doses that we have provided to them, so we have now granted them that flexibility to move into the next groups in line as they see fit, as long as they continue to prioritize the elderly and the most vulnerable populations in their jurisdictions.
In anticipation of a time when the production of vaccines can increase, and the federal government is able to increase the number that our state receives, the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland National Guard are currently working with county Health Departments and with private partners to open mass vaccination sites at central locations across the state. The state will continue to provide doses to those responsible for doing the vaccinating with any possible assistance we can to help them ramp up their pace, and we will continue to provide them with all the tools and resources they may need to help them get more shots into more arms more quickly.
As I announced last week, the National Guard has already begun dispatching emergency vaccination teams to county Health Departments who have requested help in order to expand their county vaccination clinics. Every day this week the Maryland National Guard has been assisting the Prince George’s County Health Department. They’ve also been assisting Charles County as well.
The Guard is also serving as a force multiplier and providing support personnel to supplement licensed healthcare providers at COVID-19 testing and vaccination sites. Through the Maryland Responds Medical Reserve Corps, we have recruited and allocated more than 750 capable volunteers for county vaccination clinics. 10 jurisdictions including Cecil, Charles, Frederick, Howard, Montgomery, Somerset, and Wicomico Counties as well as Baltimore County and Baltimore City have taken advantage of this, and six more jurisdictions have now initiated the process to receive volunteers.
In addition, today we are issuing a state health order which allows out of state practitioners to be able to prepare and administer vaccines in Maryland. We will continue to provide whatever personnel and resources that the vaccinators need in order to help them increase their pace and to utilize all of the allocations that we are delivering and deploying to them.
I know that many Marylanders will be pleased to hear that we were able to accelerate our time line and that we will be opening up more eligibility much sooner than expected, but I want to strongly caution that this will continue to be a long process. Going forward, our greatest limiting factor by far will be supply. As of today, we have received, as I said, approximately 547,000 doses. And this is divided up between first doses and second doses. The number of people just in phase 1 of our plan is 1.5 million people, and they need two doses. So that’s 3 million doses that we need just to be able to vaccinate the people in phase 1 before we even talk about phase 2 and 3.
Overall this will require 12 million doses to get to two doses for all Marylanders. Right now we have received 4.5 percent of that amount. So this is going to take a long time, a great deal of patience, and a lot more vaccines: We need a commitment from the companies that are making the vaccines to make more of them. We need a commitment from the incoming Biden Administration to get us more of those doses. And then we need to determine which Maryland providers can get those shots into arms the fastest and what we can do to help them.
You’ve seen stories in the media I’m sure about how the vaccines are not being used fast enough. Soon that will change to seeing stories that there are not enough vaccines for all of the people that want them. I’m sure we’ll be seeing lots of national coverage about people in long lines or on long waiting lists and why everybody hasn’t been able to get a vaccine yet.
Here in Maryland, we’re going to continue to proceed following our effective, fact, and data-based approach using our science-based protocols because we do not want to see what we’ve seen in other states where older people are left out in the cold camping out in parking lots all night long, only to be told in the morning that they’ve run out of vaccines. That should never happen. So once again, I want to remind all Marylanders that getting vaccinated is the single most important thing that you can do right now to save lives and to protect your friends and your family and your community. If you have a parent, grandparent, or an aunt, uncle, neighbor, or friend who is 65 or older, encourage them to get vaccinated. And if you can, help them to plan to get vaccinated.
By getting this effective and safe vaccine, all of us can play an important part in returning to normal, ending the damage to our economy, and preventing more illnesses and deaths in our state, and eliminating and eradicating this pandemic once and for all.
One critical tool that we’ve used to help Marylanders weather this pandemic is expanding the use of telehealth services. To talk more about additional steps we’re taking on telehealth initiatives, I’m going to turn it over to Lieutenant Governor Rutherford.
- GOVERNOR RUTHERFORD: Thank you, Governor.
Good afternoon, everyone. As the Governor mentioned, we are announcing several measures to enhance and improve telehealth services for Marylanders. I’m particularly pleased at the effect that these initiatives will have on Marylanders’ ability to access mental health treatment. The bills that we are announcing today will increase access to this critical healthcare service. For the last couple of years, I have been leading the commission to study mental and behavioral health in Maryland. The commission’s mission is to identify barriers to healthcare, particularly those who are individuals having a mental health crisis.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the lives of Marylanders, particularly those struggling with mental and behavioral health disorders. The Governor’s emergency actions and response to the pandemic, particularly in the area of telehealth, have lifted barriers to mental and behavioral health services that under normal circumstances would have prevented our friends, families, and neighbors from accessing the treatment that they needed.
As we noted in the commission’s annual report, which we released today, it’s become clear that we need to keep these programs permanent. The expanding telehealth reimbursement for audio-only telehealth services bill will codify current emergency orders requiring insurance carriers and Medicaid to reimburse for audio-only telehealth services. It will expand telehealth services for individuals who do not have access to videoconferencing equipment or broadband service. And it will increase access to critical counseling services for substance use disorder and mental health issues made worse by the pandemic.
Early on in the commission’s work, we identified the need to access care or need for the access of care to allow licensed professionals in other states to provide services to patients in Maryland. Accordingly, the healthcare practitioners’ telehealth bill will allow for healthcare providers licensed by other states to perform telehealth services for patients here in Maryland. It will require the same standard of care that all Maryland healthcare providers must follow. And it applies to all health occupations that provide telehealth services.
Just prior to the onset of the pandemic, the Behavioral Health Administration conducted a survey of mental health and substance use disorder treatment providers. The survey found that these providers reported that they did not believe they had adequate staff to provide quality care. 79 percent of psychologists, 77 percent of social workers, and 70 percent of psychiatrists reported shortages, and it’s even more acute in the Baltimore Washington corridor. This legislation will increase the number of healthcare providers available to address unmet demand for critical healthcare services.
And lastly, the board of professional counselors interstate compact bill will allow professional counselors licensed in other states that participate in the compact to serve patients located in Maryland. It will allow Maryland professional counselors to provide services to patients in states participating in the compact. The compact itself will become effective when 10 or more states participate. Joining the compact will increase the number of professional counselors available to serve Maryland patients who need critical behavioral health and substance use disorder services. The ability to recruit addiction treatment professionals has been long hampered by unnecessary barriers to hiring professionals who are licensed in other states.
Before I turn it back over to the Governor, but I think I’m going to be turning it over to the Secretary, I want to reiterate the Governor’s message regarding vaccines and urge all Marylanders who are currently eligible to receive the vaccine to do so. No one out there, especially those in high-risk categories or front line and essential workers to think that they don’t need to worry about the virus, the fact is that no one knows how the virus may affect them. Whether it’s a little symptom, a few symptoms, or an ICU stay. You won’t know until it happens. So I don’t know about you, but I would rather not find out myself. So the vaccine is on the way, and this is a crisis that needs to be addressed so that we can get back to normal. So get that vaccine as soon as are you able.
With that, I would like to turn it over to Rona Kramer, our great Secretary of the Department of Aging.
RONA KRAMER: Thank you. Thank you, Lieutenant Governor.
And thank you, Governor.
I would like to take this time to note the extraordinary work that you and the Department of Health have accomplished to get Maryland to this point. It is true that this will be the largest peacetime mission that any of us accomplish in our lifetime, and your leadership has been absolutely steadfast throughout.
As the Governor said, Maryland is now moving into phase 1B of the state’s vaccine plan. With this shift, vaccinations will now be available for essentially all of Maryland’s most vulnerable population. All adults 75 or older and those in long-term care facilities, nursing homes, assisted livings, and who live in independent living congregate settings.
If you are in a long-term care facility, CVS and Walgreens will be the primary coordinator of the vaccine effort. Your local Health Department may assist and in some cases schedule certain facilities earlier than others, depending on availability of the vaccines. There is no need for anyone in a long-term care facility to leave the facility in order to obtain the vaccine. The vaccines will come to you through the CVS or Walgreens vaccination teams.
If you are 75 and older but not living in a long-term care facility, we ask that you visit covidvax.maryland.gov to find a vaccination clinic near you or contact your local Health Department or federally qualified health center to receive more information on how to schedule a vaccine appointment. The Maryland Department of Aging will work closely with the Department of Health to facilitate outreach to our senior communities regarding the vital information to come and to ensure that they understand what options are available to them as we begin phase 1B.
It’s important not just for our seniors but for all Marylanders to know these vaccines are safe and effective. We’ve heard that. It bears repeating. It’s crucial that you get information from trusted sources, so, again, please visit the Department of Health’s website, covidvax.maryland.gov. We thank all Marylanders for their resolve during this process as well as for your understanding that it is critical that we prioritize our vulnerable seniors in this stage.
I ask that if you have someone in your family or close to you who meets these 1B requirements, that you assist them in getting the information they need so that we can assure the swift dispersement of the vaccine to the older communities. I want to finish by reassuring our seniors and their families that help is on the way. The Department of Aging and I will work tirelessly to help you get your vaccination.
With that, I will turn the podium over to our next speaker, Dr. Jinlene Chan, Deputy Secretary at the Department of Health.
JINLENE CHAN: Good evening. Thank you, Secretary Kramer. Thank you, Governor, Lieutenant Governor.
I wanted to focus my remarks tonight on something other than vaccine. We have spoken about over the course of this press conference as well as in prior ones about the importance of vaccines, and we continue to push out more and more vaccine as we get it from our federal partners.
However, I also wanted to highlight an important development that we have here in the state, an important treatment for monoclonal antibodies, a treatment that makes antibodies that mimic a person’s natural antibodies if they were to become affected with COVID-19 to actually protect them against the infection and disease.
So these were approved in November by the FDA under an Emergency Use Authorization, and has been deployed by the state in multiple locations for individuals who are high risk and also have a positive COVID test.
When this treatment is given to an eligible patient, this person actually, what the studies have shown, is that there is a reduced risk of hospitalization as well as emergency department visits. These can reduce the need for individuals to go to the hospital. And because the monoclonal antibodies actually reduce the viral load or replication in the body, they also reduce symptoms.
We wanted to highlight this because we believe that in conjunction with vaccine, that this treatment can help prevent hospitalizations and more serious complications from the disease.
So this is something that if the person is at high risk, so what that means are individuals who may have chronic kidney disease, who have diabetes, or conditions that suppress their immune systems, if they are older than 65 or if they’re older than 55 with heart disease or chronic lung disease, they may be eligible if they contract the infection.
This is an IV infusion, so this is not a treatment that someone can take in their home. It’s an IV infusion. So what that means is they would need to go to a specialized healthcare setting and actually receive an intravenous infusion over about an hour.
Because of that, the Maryland Department of Health has been working with hospital partners across the state as well as other healthcare providers to offer these monoclonal antibody treatments in situations where a person’s healthcare provider feels it’s appropriate.
In addition, we have partnered with nursing homes across the state. And at this point in time, 90 percent of the nursing homes in the state of Maryland have access to obtain this monoclonal antibody treatment for patients within nursing homes who may be eligible. We are working to make sure that all nursing homes have access as well, and at this point in time, it’s 90 percent.
I do encourage that people who have been diagnosed recently with COVID-19 and who may have an underlying condition, that they speak with a healthcare provider to see if monoclonal antibody may be something that could benefit them. I encourage people to find out more about this treatment and this information is available on our website at covidlink.maryland.gov. And there will be information not only about the treatment and what it is in more detail, but also a form for the providers to fill out with information about where these infusion sites are. We continue to expand locations around the state. There are seven currently available to individuals across the state, and we are adding four more next week. So we continue to expand this resource and we encourage individuals to learn about it. And if they are eligible, to ask for the treatment.
So thank you so much, and Governor, I will turn it to you.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Thank you. I’ll take questions.
(Question off mic).
If it’s important, she has all the real knowledge. We’ll bring Dr. Chan back up.
(Question off mic).
We northeast every day. The information today I think is 28.5 percent of the total doses that they have, but what they’re doing is now they’re going to move them to where they have contracts because the nursing homes are only 70 percent full, not 100 percent full. The number of people who did not want to take the vaccine. It’s not a mandatory requirement. So they have more doses left over. But as you pointed out, we have clinics that are at 94 percent. CVS has 76 percent. For Walgreens, they have a few more to knock out. They probably will finish all of them in a week. But they can’t make everybody take the vaccine. So they have more left over all of which they will use on all the other groups that we’ve opened up.
They’re the lowest percentage, lower than the hospitals and lower than the Health Departments, but they also have been ramping it up and they will use every one of them. It will just be in different locations.
(Question off mic).
Yeah, not one of them is ever going to go to waste, and that’s why we’re now saying, we had enough for every single person. If they don’t want them, we’re moving to the next group. They’re going to use them all up. But trust me, I’ve talked to the CEO and the President of CVS and Walgreens, our federal partners multiple times, trying to figure out why they’re lagging behind, but I think it will improve.
(Question off mic).
I guess on the first question, they can, the minute they get it, start putting it in somebody’s arm. So in the beginning it was taking some time for everybody ever to set up the process and figure out how they were going to go about it in the Health Departments and some of them needed help that we’re now providing the things that they requested. Things are ramping up. There’s a chart. It’s going like this. We started out well below. We’re far outpacing the supply, so the problem is we’ll run out soon. We get 10,000 a day and we’re giving 16,000 a day, so soon we’ll have the opposite problem. So it was slower but there’s no reason why they can’t start sticking them all in somebody’s arm as soon as they get them.
Kids back in school? I want to get kids back in school as quickly as we possibly can. I was happy to hear that is something that the president-elect is also saying. It’s something that the providing officers in both houses of our legislature have said. So that’s why our state superintendent of schools has been working with all the county systems to make sure that they have plans and are ready to start vaccinating all the teachers. All of the other educational staff. As well as the childcare providers, so we can get our kids back to school. Everybody wants that.
(Question off mic).
Well, it’s a huge concern, which is why I sort of repeated it multiple times about the safety, the efficacy. It’s why the Lieutenant Governor mentioned it. I think all four of us said that it is safe and it’s critically important, because that’s been I guess — you know, we knew there was certain reluctance in certain communities that we had to work on, and we’re about to launch a major marketing campaign with lots of people to help be role models to convince people to use the vaccine. But I’m a little surprised that so many people, you know, we sent all these things out there. Some of it was just them getting organized, holidays and all of that. It’s only been a couple of weeks. But some of it was people saying, I don’t want it. So that’s why we’re moving along to the next group. We’re going to have to convince all those people to get it.
(Question off mic).
I think that’s a good idea, Brian. I think we will do that. I said I wanted to get them first to the hospitals and the nursing homes, which we already did. And now we’re already opening it up to five or six other groups. So I think we haven’t got an exact time, but we will do that publicly. I’m sure. We’re going to go out and try to recruit some other visible people in the community and we want to get everybody vaccinated to show people it’s safe. I’m going to do that sometime soon. It’s just not scheduled yet.
(Question off mic).
I mean, the systems have all been overwhelmed for 10 months, but this is a new thing. We’re the first state in the country to be ready to process these new extended unemployment benefits. The demand has been huge. You know, we built an entire new system which was functioning well for a while. As of today, by the way, we’ve done 95 percent of all claims are settled. 830,000 some people have been paid. $8.4 billion. There are about 5 percent that are unresolved, and we’re going to ask the legislature to fix a problem. We’re one of only four states in the country that we can’t get fast answers because we’re required to have a long, drawn-out appeals process that can take 6-12 months, can’t be done on the phone, can’t be done on a computer. So I think we’re going to ask the legislature to fix the original legislation, but right now we’re still doing better than any other state in America. The 5 percent, I want every single person to get resolved. Some of them we can’t by law. But the phone calls, this week it’s far higher volume than ever before. One because the national economy is continuing to tank, and two because they just offered these new benefits and everybody is confused about it and asking questions about it, and it’s much easier to handle hundreds of thousands of claims with a computer than it is, you know, even if you have 1,000 people answering phones, if you have 20,000 calls coming in, it’s hard. These are long, drawn-out questions. We’ll try to improve it. I think we’re ahead of almost every state.
(Question off mic).
No, we haven’t. There’s no open data. But that’s obviously the main push is to get everybody back in school. Why teachers said they needed to have the vaccine, needed to be prioritized. It’s what the President-elect is saying, and I think he’s pushing back on the teachers’ union. Might have some impact. But it’s what — there’s complete unanimous agreement. I heard Senator Ferguson yesterday was his priority is getting kids back in school. It’s been mine since July. It’s Joe Biden’s top priority. And now we are vaccinating all of them so we can get kids back in school. But we’re not going to mandate it and dictate when. We’re not allowed to.
(Question off mic).
I don’t know what they’re going to do or when they’re going to do it. I know that vetoes have to start in the House and they won’t be back in until February so it won’t happen real soon.
I’ve said over and over again, look, I know they want to go back and rewrite some new legislation. We just came up with another 1.2 billion for education in the stimulus. Our budget is once again providing more money than the legislation has called for. We’re holding harmless all the jurisdictions. We’re record funding education for the sixth year in a row. But absolutely, no on $4 billion in tax increases. Absolute worst thing they could possibly think of. I don’t think they will do it. If they were to try to override the veto, they’ll scrap the bill and start over. But I can tell you regardless of what they do, I am not going to forge a $4 billion tax increase on Marylanders in the middle of the worst economic crisis in our lifetime.
(Question off mic).
The easy one to do is your age because everybody has some identification and should show their age and can show that anywhere at any of the provider points. That’s one of the easiest ways for us to do it.
The other ones they show that they’re before in phase 1A was all the medical, licensed medical personnel everywhere, so they just said, I’m a nurse, I’m a doctor, I work for a Health Department, I work in a pharmacy. I don’t know all the details. Maybe Dr. Chan can tell. But each of the providers have ways to make sure people are not skipping line, that people not qualified won’t get the vaccine.
(Question off mic).
The easiest way is to go on the website that we just launched this evening or we’re doing it right now as we speak. You should be able to go on there and it should work. That’s the easiest way, so you have one place to gather all the information.
The information is going to change every day, if not by the hour, as the vaccines come in. I know that Vice President Biden is having a press conference at 7:00 tonight where he will announce a new plan. I think they’re going to provide a lot more help as far as money to the states that help us withstanding up our mass vaccination clinic. I think they’re also going to try to provide a lot more doses to the states so we can do broader populations, but as I pointed out, right now we have 4.5 percent of the vaccines that we need. We have 500,000 out of the 3 million we need just for phase 1. So no, I can’t tell every person exactly when they’re going to get it and exactly how fast and where, but I know that they can go and find out who has them and try to make an appointment, but not everybody is going to get an appointment until we have enough vaccines and we do not have enough vaccines.
SPEAKER: Last question.
(Question off mic).
JINLENE CHAN: Are you referring to the hospital numbers? There was an error in reporting and it was corrected once we realized it. It was just a feed from those hospitals. So it’s resolved.
(Question off mic).
JINLENE CHAN: It was a data entry error.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Yeah, I don’t want to throw anybody under the bus, but Johns Hopkins made a mistake in entering data. They had like 100 some numbers off in the hospitalizations and we corrected it.
Did you say last question?
(Question off mic).
No, we want them to use every bit of it. We were talking about this with Dr. Chan. We shouldn’t have any wasted doses. The others left over, make another dose out of it and use.
(Question off mic).
Yeah, I mean, there’s a whole detailed plan. I just told you the ones that we had moved up earlier. But the rest of the plan is still the same as it was before. Although hopefully we can continue to accelerate if we can get some more vaccines.
Thank you.
