GOVERNOR HOGAN: Good afternoon. Joining me today are Major General Tim Gowen and Brigadier General Janeen Birckhead of the Maryland National Guard. Secretary Dennis Schrader of the Maryland Department of Health and Dr. David Marcozzi from the University of Maryland Medical System who serves as our senior medical adviser on COVID‑19.
This morning, I convened a meeting of the state’s multiagency command team and later today, I will join the nation’s governors for a teleconference with senior Biden administration officials regarding COVID‑19 vaccinations. As we continue to navigate this global pandemic here in Maryland, we are continuing to see positive indications in our data metrics.
This month, Maryland’s statewide positivity rate has declined by nearly 30 percent. To 6.64 percent. Our state’s rate has declined by 36 percent to 34.1 per 100,000 and our COVID hospitalizations have declined by 15 percent. These encouraging numbers along with the initial launch of safe and effective vaccines make this possible for us to look forward to the return of a sense of normalcy. But we must continue to do the things that have put us in this position. Keep doing the things that help us keep our families and our friends healthy and safe.
The COVID‑19 vaccination campaign is the largest undertaking in history. And as with any massive, new effort, the nation is facing some serious obstacles. The primary one facing every state in America is the extremely limited supply of vaccines that are being produced and allocated by CDC and the federal government. Right now, Maryland has 10,000 doses per day with a roughly two million people who are currently eligible to receive it just in phase one.
So it goes without saying, it is simply an impossibility for all of them to immediately receive it. Yesterday, the Biden administration was pledging to increase production by 50 percent. While we’re hopeful that the federal government will be able to keep its pledge to increase its production, to increase Pfizer Moderna allocations to the states, we’re also hopeful that other promising vaccine candidates are supposedly getting closer to FDA emergency use authorization approval. But the plain truth is that for at least the near future, we fully expect that the demand for vaccines will continue to far exceed the supply that will be available to us.
In order to complete phase one, Maryland will need a total of 4 million doses. We currently have a remaining supply of 110,000 first doses available. Nearly all of which have already been deployed to vaccinators and are already scheduled and spoken for.
At our current case, Maryland providers are administering an average of more than 18,000 doses each day. So that’s less than a one‑week supply. Overall, we will require 12 million to reach two doses for all Marylanders. And to date, Maryland has only been allotted 5.8 percent of that amount. 95 percent of all of those doses allocated to Maryland have already been deployed and delivered directly to the hundreds of providers across the state who are in the process of administering those vaccinations.
As frustrating as this is for every single one of us, this will obviously be a much longer process than any of us would like. And it’s going to require a great deal of patience for many months while the state continues to push the federal government and the manufacturers to increase their production and drastically increase the allocations to the states. I will be discussing that again today with the Biden administration along with my fellow governors from across the country immediately following this press conference. In the meantime, we’re deal with what we can actually control here at the state level. By building the broadest hospital vaccination network to further expand deployment, the maximum utilization of the limited doses as we receive them.
As of today, as I said, 95 percent of the state’s vaccine allocations have already been deployed, distributed and delivered to frontline vaccinators including local health departments, hospitals, pharmacies, and assisted living and skilled nursing facilities and all of phase one is now open, including Maryland residents over age 65. Those Maryland vaccination providers have now administered nearly 400,000 vaccines. 348,026 of those are first doses. 75.9 percent of all of Maryland’s first doses have already been completed.
The remaining doses are nearly all spoken for already. We have received 208,725 which are required for second doses and 23.3 percent of those have already been utilized. These obviously can only be administered within certain time frames, either 21 days or 28 days, depending on the vaccine, after the first dose. So those can’t be sped up. They have to be given at the date they’re allowed to be given. Through the federal contracts, CVS and Walgreens have completed all of their initial clinics at all 227 nursing homes across Maryland. They’re contracted to provide three clinics at each nursing home in the state to make sure that vaccines are available to every single resident or staff member who wants one. They’ve already begun second shots at nursing homes.
And today have now moved into part “B” of the federal partnership which now includes doing vaccinations at the 1,680 assisted living facilities and other long‑term care facilities in Maryland. CDC is now requiring Maryland to set aside approximately 20,000 of our weekly allocated doses for this federal long‑term care program. Which leaves only 50,000 doses per week remaining for all of the other providers in the state. 198,562 dose have been deployed to the 24 county health departments. And they have completed 136,846 vaccinations.
County health departments have been able to pick up their pace with the help of the Maryland National Guard, mobile vaccination support teams that we sent in. More than 370 members of the guard have assisted with thousands of vaccinations in Prince George’s, Charles, Baltimore, Anne Arundel, St. Mary’s and Talbot Counties. The state has also deployed 825 Maryland responds members to 11 jurisdictions including Prince George’s, Charles counties, Baltimore city as well as Baltimore, Cecil, Frederick, Howard, Kent, Montgomery and Queen Anne’s County.
A task force of state officials are working around the clock to recruit and assign more vaccinators for those counties that have requested assistance. Maryland has 465 active provider organizations which are ready to hire and train as many vaccinators as are necessary. County leaders have requested and we have granted them flexibility in how their health departments decide to utilize the doses they receive as long as they prioritize the elderly and the vulnerable populations. 365,788 doses have been deployed and delivered to Maryland’s hospitals and health care systems. They have now completed 190,882 vaccinations.
Consistent with a state health order, hospitals that have 75 percent of utilization are not being prioritized for additional allocations and will not receive allocations until they demonstrate that they can pick up the pace. Last week, we ‑‑ hospitals by vaccinating their own critical staff, to begin utilizing their remaining doses for older Marylanders and priority populations. Nearly 40 hospitals have already exceeded this network to do so. Hospitals that hold vaccination clinics for the public will be prioritized for additional allocations.
In anticipation of an increased supply from the federal government, this week we began the process of opening more points of access through multiple, private sector pharmacy partnerships. This week, 22 Giant locations in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties and throughout the Baltimore region and three Martin’s locations in Washington and Allegany counties as well as ten Walmart locations on the eastern shore and western Maryland have all begun offering vaccinations.
In addition, 16 Safeway and Rite Aid location will begin to offer vaccinations beginning next week. Given that supply remains very limited and we are focused on equitable distribution, we’re utilizing data and modeling to prioritize underserved areas and places where there’s the greatest need. To that end, we are working to support hard‑to‑reach areas and populations by setting up mobile clinics in partnership with Rite Aid. As soon as the state receives higher allocations from the federal government, our infrastructure will already be in place and we will be able to quickly expand well beyond these pilot programs to include much higher volumes, more and more pharmacies and many more locations across the state.
There are currently more than 100 vaccine providers in the state including pharmacies, hospitals and local health department clinics. This number is growing weekly and will continue to expand as the supply increases. You can go to COVIDvax.maryland.gov to find a list of current vaccination sites in your county. As well as the appropriate platform for scheduling appointments. At this time, because of the serious shortage of vaccines, vaccinations are only being done by appointment only. And vaccination providers will require verification of your eligibility.
Obviously as we have said at every press conference over the last month or so, due to the extremely limited supply of vaccines, these appointments will fill up very quickly and you should expect to be put on a waiting list. Again, with the anticipation that the federal government will be able to address these supply chain issues and that they will increase delivery to the states, we have directed the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland National Guard to work with county leaders, with hospitals and private partners to establish mass vaccination sites. And at least six central locations statewide.
By the end of the week, hundreds of Maryland National Guard members who have been in Washington protecting our nation’s capital will be immediately reassigned to plan and build and launch these mass vaccination sites. Beyond the process of converting the state’s six flag Americas testing site in Prince George’s County to serve as a mass vaccination site which will open no later than next Friday, February 5th. In addition, through a partnership with the University of Maryland Medical System and the Baltimore City health department, we will be opening a mass vaccination site at M&T Bank Stadium as soon as we’re able to secure higher allotments of the vaccine. In order to get mass vaccination in Baltimore City up and running sooner than that, the Baltimore City field site will begin providing vaccinations by next Friday, February 5th. The convention center is one of the most advanced COVID care sites in the country. We opened it in the spring as a field hospital for surge capacity. We then expanded it to become our highest performing testing center and then later to include a center for groundbreaking antibody treatments and now it will provide vaccinations to the general public.
We’re currently finalizing sites for regional mass vaccination centers on the eastern shore, in western Maryland, and in southern Maryland. I am committed to activating as many members of the National Guard as are needed to accomplish this critical, life‑saving mission. We had productive discussions today with FEMA regarding the potential opening of federally‑supported regional mass vaccination hubs. In addition, FEMA just approved our request for an additional $219 million in federal funding to support Maryland’s COVID‑19 emergency vaccination programs.
After consulting with physicians and medical experts at Maryland’s leading health care systems, including University of Maryland, Hopkins, and MedStar, beginning Monday, February 1, we’re expanding eligibility for severely immunocompromised individuals such as those receiving chemotherapy and those with certain immune disorders who require frequent medical care. Those individuals will be eligible to receive vaccinations through their hospital providers. Dr. Marcozzi will provide more details about that in just a few minutes.
Lastly, I just want to thank and extend my appreciation to all of the vaccinators, the hospitals, the local health departments, the pharmacists, the Maryland National Guard, our state health department, many of them have been working around the clock, seven days a week, to serve the community. After everything that we’ve all been through over the past year, I know that people are really sick of this virus. We’re completely fed up and frustrated right now. Trust me. I know exactly how you feel. No one is more frustrated than I am. And no one is more ready to put this pandemic behind us than I am.
We can’t fix all of these problems by ourselves. We can’t fix them overnight. But I can assure you that we will keep doing everything that we possibly can to push the federal government for more vaccines. We’re going to leverage every possible resource we can find and support the vaccinators, to help them get shots into arms as quickly as possible. And we will not rest until the vaccine is available to every Marylander who wants one. I’ve always been a guy who tells it like it is. And the truth is that this is not going to magically get better overnight. The last ten months has been really hard. It is going to be much harder.
I ask all Marylanders to ‑‑ as difficult as it is, to please be patient with the vaccination providers. They’re all doing the very best they can with really limited resources. Also would ask you that when it is your turn, to get the vaccine, to please be ready to get that vaccine. Because getting vaccinated is the best way that we can return to a sense of normalcy. It is a way to keep ‑‑ your family and friends and community healthy and safe.
It is the way that we’re going to be able to prevent more illnesses, more hospitalizations and more deaths. And it is the way that we’re going to finally get to the point where we can bring this pandemic to an end. At this time, I’m going to turn it over to Dr. Marcozzi to discuss the path for immunocompromised individuals and then over to Dennis Schrader. Dr. Marcozzi.
DAVID MARCOZZI: Thank you, Governor Hogan, Secretary Schrader. Your continued leadership to our state during this unprecedented time.
Good afternoon. I’m honored again to speak to you today. I want to begin by thanking my fellow Marylanders. On a daily basis, I’m inspired by the actions we’re all taking to continue to help each other fight back against COVID‑19. This can be seen through our ‑‑ as the governor describes or simply by going out to the grocery store. Whether it is wearing a mask over your nose and mouth, talking to a colleague about vaccination or connecting to some, our collective actions are having an impact on this pandemic. Data in our state and case positivity to hospitalizations suggest that our policies are working. Working because all of us are pulling together.
Many national and world leaders remind us though that COVID‑19 remains a threat. Like a smoldering fire in a dry forest. There was a time and when this virus moves between us if we aren’t wearing masks. None of us should be overly confident during this period. As of this morning, our state has lost over 6,788 neighbors, colleagues, friends, and family members to this deadly disease.
Now we have a new twist in the pandemic. Variants. Yes, this virus is changing and mutating. It is a natural part of the way viruses multiply. Variant is a small change in a virus which may or may not lead to ability to infect us all. As a result, many questions about COVID‑19 variants including if you can identify here in Maryland. It is important to note that current vaccines remain effective against the mutate variants. Today the predominant strain in the U.S. come March.
Continuing before active surveillance and research to identify other variants of COVID‑19 and their impact is another important effort our state and regions are undertaking. I’m proud to be in an emergency position. In fact, treating patients during a time of crisis is one of my greatest honors. Typically, honestly, emergency position might not think too often about vaccines. That is until you or your child did not receive one. Then, and all too often, individuals become severely ill, requiring emergency treatment because of a preventable illness.
Let me provide an example of a life‑saving vaccine we all take for granted. The influenza type B would prevent a bacterial infection. It was introduced in 1987 and is administered in a four-dose series from a pediatrician during infancy. This vaccine has a 98 percent efficacy and has resulted in a dramatic decrease in illness including the deadly meningitis. Yes, vaccines work! They’re safe and they’re a wonderful tool to protect us all.
There is good news that there are more COVID‑19 vaccines close to being authorized for use. It is anticipated that Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccine efficacy data will be available in a few weeks and shortly thereafter, will be submitted to the FDA for consideration. The J & J vaccine is a single dose shot with less cold storage requirement. So the authorization of this vaccine could be a game‑changer. Once the FDA approves this or other vaccines, it will improve vaccine availability and greatly assist our vaccination efforts which we all started just over one month ago. There are many risks to becoming critically ill and dying from COVID‑19. Some risks are due to medical conditions while others are not. The prioritization set by the governor and agreed to by representatives from major health systems alone allow for those at higher risk of death per the CDC guidelines to receive a vaccine earlier. These new high‑risk additions are for cancer patients currently in active treatment, adrenal stage requiring dialysis, patients who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, solid organ transplant recipient, sickle‑cell disease and diabetic patients.
In addition to those high‑risk conditions, access to health care and challenges saved by transportation as other risk factors for severe COVID‑19 infection and death. The fact is this virus is amplifying health care disparities. National data on COVID‑19 from the CDC illustrates this. African‑Americans and Hispanics are more ‑‑ are about four times more likely to be hospitalized and two times more likely to die from COVID‑19 than are whites.
In short, community leaders, educators and those of us in public health and health care must recognize the issue and work to address it. I am impatient. Perhaps that helps me in the emergency department because it is a frustration when I’m waiting for vaccines for our state. Expanding the category and addressing health care disparities does not, unfortunately, rectify the issue that limits vaccines will be our unfortunate present‑day situation. This will make a national challenge and hopefully the vaccine candidates will receive FDA approval. As more suppliers receive, we’re putting in an approach for vaccination. One that engages the private sector and the public sector from hospitals to churches, from insurers to grocery stores, from clinics to mobile vans to reach into hard‑to‑reach communities.
Today’s mass vaccination efforts at the convention center and M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore continues to actualize and all of Maryland approach as these will be staffed by state employees, Maryland National Guardsmen and colleagues together, shoulder to shoulder, to get this work done. On Martin Luther King Day, I had the honor of vaccinating someone over 75 years of age.
During the difficult times, everyone was working for being vaccinated and was optimistic. Something I hadn’t seen in some time. I took great pride in participating, particularly that national holiday. It has taught me a lot about the human spirit. My colleagues in health care continue to demonstrate unending courage and stamina. I’ve seen coworkers, neighbors and friends all stand in solidarity against this virus and support each other. We’re getting used to this. We don’t like it. We’re realizing how to cope but look forward to reconnecting in person. We’re anxious to have our state opening back up and realize that this time is coming as more of us are vaccinated and our continued vigilance. Together, we Marylanders are persevering despite this virus. Let’s keep it up. I’ll pass it over to Secretary Schrader.
DENNIS SCHRADER: Thank you, Governor Hogan, Brigadier Birckhead, Major Gowen and Governor Hogan. It requires meticulous planning, coordination and collaboration across the state. In preparation for mass vaccination sites, the Maryland Department of Health is developing a broad, scalable vaccine administration infrastructure. We’re using our COVID‑19 testing infrastructure as a model.
If you recall, the testing infrastructure proved very successful as we grew from 50 tests a day initially to upwards of over 50,000 tests per day. The testing infrastructure features a wide variety of site models, some small, some large, some better suited to pedestrians, others better suited to drivers. Our infrastructure featured different site models that complement the communities they serve.
As we plan the placement of these sites across the state, we’re considering our many communities’ unique needs and ensuring that Marylanders have equitable access to vaccines. Our goal is to have an efficient combination of models across the state. The Maryland Department of Health is facilitating public and private partnerships with hospitals, retail pharmacies, private practices, and community‑based organizations to make this scalable infrastructure a reality.
Our local health departments have been the backbone of our initial vaccine distribution system. They have ‑‑ they are vaccinating individuals who are currently eligible in each jurisdiction in Maryland. Hospitals in large private practices joined early on. They have taken care of many of our frontline health care heroes and they’re helping us to vaccinate vulnerable priority populations. Retail pharmacy began administering vaccines just yesterday.
We’re now running a pilot program at Giant and Martin’s and Walmart locations from the eastern shore to western Maryland and more densely populated urban areas in between. High-capacity community sites match vaccination sites. It will take shape into next week. We’re working with communities where we can serve large numbers of eligible individuals efficiently. Sites will be operated by clinical partners, churches and hospitals that do the actual vaccinating with the needle in arms.
As we receive more vaccines, we can scale the operations to serve more and more Marylanders. The Department of Health created a public web page for vaccination site listing as was mentioned earlier. COVIDvax.maryland.gov. Marylanders can use this locator tool to find available appointments and vaccination sites and directly access scheduling tools. Keep in mind though that appointments may not be immediately available at sites closest to an individual’s residence. All vaccination providers are asked to list their appointment web pages and phone numbers on this site.
We are now in phase one C and has been said over two million Marylanders are eligible for vaccines including the most vulnerable Marylanders in all residents 65 and older. A person’s eligibility never expires and Marylanders who are eligible in previous phases remain eligible. Eligible Marylanders who have an increasing number of vaccination options each week and when the vaccine supply is ready, the vaccination sites will be ready. The expansion of eligibility helps to assure that no vaccine goes to waste.
We are working with our partners to make sure the vaccination sites have the necessary auxiliary supply and personal protective equipment. The state is also actively recruiting personnel to support local jurisdiction sites through Maryland med now and Maryland responds. Maryland responds has placed over 7,700 volunteers. In addition, we’re looking for interested parties and providers that can register on ImmuNet which is our long‑standing website to become a vaccination provider and you can find that at www.MD ImmuNet.org.
Let me say in closing by establishing a robust infrastructure now, while vaccine supply remained limited for all states, we can deliver and administer doses when the national supply chain matures. When Maryland receives more vaccine, we’ll be ready to distribute them and a variety of providers will be prepared to administer them. Thank you, governor.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: With that, we would be happy to take some questions.
Q (Off Microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I can answer that. We have not seen other than one case where a refrigerator failed. Across the board, people are using it. We’re actually getting more out of certain doses where we found that we can get six shots instead of five. So to the credit of the people who have been doing this, the vaccinators, we’ll be very careful and have not observed waste.
(Question off microphone).
SPEAKER: The state‑run will be available to anyone in the state.
(Question off microphone).
SPEAKER: The local health department will make decisions. All of those Giants and Safeways all over Prince George’s County can get people vaccinated. When we open up the Six Flags site, that will be a state that anyone from anywhere can get vaccinated.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We’re hopeful. I have a call right after this and all governors with the Biden team. We heard a week or two ago that there were 55 million more doses sitting in Michigan that they said the Trump administration hadn’t acquired. That turned out to not be true. Then we heard we would go from one million to 1.5 million a day. We heard that two days ago. That’s apparently not true. There is some report about a 16 percent increase. So we get instead of 10,000 a day, we get another 1,000 a day. We’re doing 18,000 a day. That’s not going to make much of a difference.
(Question off microphone).
SPEAKER: We’re all in this together. I’m not trying to point fingers. They’re not holding the bag, I don’t think. This is a very difficult thing. Operation Warp Speed was a year or so ahead of schedule. There are only two companies. They just can’t make them fast enough. So it is not like ‑‑ there’s no place for us to go buy them even if we were allowed to. They don’t have them. Everybody in the world wants them and there are only so many. That’s why we have to get as Dr. Marcozzi touched on in his remarks, we’re close apparently on this Johnson & Johnson which would be a tremendous breakthrough, we’ll be making them right here in Maryland. It is a one‑shot deal. That will be terrific but it’s not here yet.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We don’t know. We’re trying to get it right. For the first three, four weeks, everybody was complaining ‑‑ we have too many. Not enough people were taking it. 60 percent of the health care workers weren’t getting it. Only one‑third of the people in nursing homes were taking it. They were sitting around on shelves. All of our local county health departments and the CDC and the federal government, both the Trump Administration and the Biden Administration said you need to open it up to more groups.
They all specifically said to open it up to phase 1B and 1C. Why are other states opening up and why are you not? And then when we did, you said why. We’re all trying to get ‑‑ we’re assuming they’re going to get up to speed but we didn’t have enough for phase 1A. We don’t know how many people are going to take it. We don’t have enough for everybody. We can’t have them going bad on the shelf. But we don’t want to run out, either. We’re better than 31 other states. Almost everybody is in the same category. It wasn’t just the desire.
Before he left, Robert Redfield pleaded and then Biden said the same thing. They were pressing. Our county leaders were begging. Most of you in the media were saying why can’t 65‑year‑olds get it here like in other states?
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: So we ‑‑ the state board of education approved safe reopening plan for every single school in Maryland in August, July. We authorized every school to open. A majority of the school systems did bring at least some of the kids back in. All of the private schools opened in August. We now have five or six months with very little problem. Many states have been open entirely since then.
Anthony Fauci, the State Board of Education, Joe Biden, everyone wants to get kids back in school. Who said at the press conference last week that we still want to get kids back in school. Since then, five or six have said they’re changing their plans and start getting kids back in school. That’s great progress. But we also said contingent on every teacher getting vaccinated. Many schools have been open for five months without any vaccines. Every teacher doesn’t have to go to school if people don’t want their kids to go back to school but certain kids need opportunity at least to get an education after a year of not getting one.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I’m sorry. I didn’t get that. You’re at the back of the room and you have a mask.
I think we’ve got to get a stimulus bill passed and I think, as I said on the last three stimulus bills, I just hope that we’ll find a way for republicans and democrats to reach some type of an agreement. I don’t think we can’t get take it or leave it.
This is the Pelosi‑Biden bill and republicans better get on board. I don’t think they should say no way, Jose, we won’t have a stimulus. If we have to work through the issues and get through something done. We never got any assistance. We’re shooting for a stable government. We need for people out there suffering, we have to get a stimulus bill done. It was a good start but it wasn’t enough. I don’t think you can say it has to be exactly this bill. I think there’s certainly some negotiating and I’ll try to help drag people to the middle of the room.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: It is just the way our system is set up. State health department, we have county health officers and we have county health departments in each jurisdiction. They’re the ones ‑‑ same thing we did on testing. Build the testing which is one of the best in America.
It is the way the CDC recommends it. It is the way other states are doing it. They’re on the frontlines to give them the flexibility. We’re providing the assistance they need. There’s no state workforce to go out and do 24 jurisdictions and stick needles in the arms. Many of them started off ‑‑ some of them are doing great. The whole state, they’re running out of vaccines. This side is getting all of the questions. I have to pick.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I just answered that one. It was the outgoing administration and the incoming administration and the local health departments and people everywhere pushing to ‑‑ for us to expand it to those groups and the argument before was no one is using these and they’re sitting on the shelf. We didn’t want them to expire so we had to get them in arms. Since then, we went from 10,000 a day to 18,000 a day. So it worked. On the weekends, we were only doing 2,000 a day and some of you, some others were upset about that. Then we went up to 20,000. Yes, there’s not enough for everybody. We knew that would be the case. I’ve said that repeatedly at five or six press conferences. We got twice as many done.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I know this is really frustrating. If I was trying to get a vaccine for a parent or somebody, why can’t I get my shot? We have 100,000 people, 200,000 people who want to make an appointment. We don’t know when we’re going to get more supply. So if this county said we’re going to schedule them now, we can say we can schedule you for October. It would be better to say all of our appointments are full. Contact us when we get more and so you can’t schedule appointments for too many people when you don’t have the doses. We don’t know when and if we’ll get more doses. That’s just the way the system is. We only can get what we get.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Not to put Dr. Marcozzi on the spot but at first when we rolled them out, hospitals came first. It was the holidays. They were short‑staffed. They were busy taking care of patients. I think it picked up pretty steadily. They’re still behind. The county health department. I think they’re picking up the pace and I think some people, because they were in critical positions and busy taking care of patients, maybe they waited for the first round and they’re now picking up the slack. I think they have them on their schedule. They didn’t want to vaccinate the entire hospital at the same time. Many are spoken for and many are scheduled for those slots like we’re talking about.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I spoke with the County Executive from Montgomery County yesterday and I spoke with Prince George’s County yesterday. Came to our attention. Our website, COVIDvax.maryland.gov does not schedule any appointments at all. This is an old system that is run by a private contractor that had other types of vaccines and other things. We’ve addressed the issue. People are going on there mistakenly and trying to book appointments. It was for other types of medical things like flu shots. It is not where you should be going. I think they’ve fixed it.
DAVID MARCOZZI: Let me address that, governor. We have a system. There are a lot of vaccinations for children and other folks that were in that system. What we decided is we wanted to design a more robust system just for COVID. That’s what the website is for and we’re in the process of bringing that up. But at the same time, we don’t want to cut off our citizens from these very important other vaccines.
The volume and scale of what we need for COVID is so much greater to be able to handle that volume. But we don’t want to cut it off because it is important. We’re working on it as we speak. I’m expecting answers within the next 24 hours. The timing. I don’t want to shoot from the hip. But we’re committed to changing that and building something more robust that’s going on as we speak.
(Question off microphone).
SPEAKER: I don’t know about how many. They have a location in Baltimore, they have about 1800 employees in Maryland. We talked about them quite a by the. They have contracts both with Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca to produce ‑‑ to be the manufacturer of their vaccines and I think they’re already in the process of preparing for that EUA. I don’t know what goes into the production of them but they’re ready as soon as they get that EUA to start cranking out hundreds of millions of vaccines. So I’m supposed to be talking with the CEO of that group. I’ll be talking with them. But in Johnson & Johnson gets the go‑ahead, we’ll be making them in Maryland.
This morning, I convened a meeting of the state’s multiagency command team and later today, I will join the nation’s governors for a teleconference with senior Biden administration officials regarding COVID‑19 vaccinations. As we continue to navigate this global pandemic here in Maryland, we are continuing to see positive indications in our data metrics.
This month, Maryland’s statewide positivity rate has declined by nearly 30 percent. To 6.64 percent. Our state’s rate has declined by 36 percent to 34.1 per 100,000 and our COVID hospitalizations have declined by 15 percent. These encouraging numbers along with the initial launch of safe and effective vaccines make this possible for us to look forward to the return of a sense of normalcy. But we must continue to do the things that have put us in this position. Keep doing the things that help us keep our families and our friends healthy and safe.
The COVID‑19 vaccination campaign is the largest undertaking in history. And as with any massive, new effort, the nation is facing some serious obstacles. The primary one facing every state in America is the extremely limited supply of vaccines that are being produced and allocated by CDC and the federal government. Right now, Maryland has 10,000 doses per day with a roughly two million people who are currently eligible to receive it just in phase one.
So it goes without saying, it is simply an impossibility for all of them to immediately receive it. Yesterday, the Biden administration was pledging to increase production by 50 percent. While we’re hopeful that the federal government will be able to keep its pledge to increase its production, to increase Pfizer Moderna allocations to the states, we’re also hopeful that other promising vaccine candidates are supposedly getting closer to FDA emergency use authorization approval. But the plain truth is that for at least the near future, we fully expect that the demand for vaccines will continue to far exceed the supply that will be available to us.
In order to complete phase one, Maryland will need a total of 4 million doses. We currently have a remaining supply of 110,000 first doses available. Nearly all of which have already been deployed to vaccinators and are already scheduled and spoken for.
At our current case, Maryland providers are administering an average of more than 18,000 doses each day. So that’s less than a one‑week supply. Overall, we will require 12 million to reach two doses for all Marylanders. And to date, Maryland has only been allotted 5.8 percent of that amount. 95 percent of all of those doses allocated to Maryland have already been deployed and delivered directly to the hundreds of providers across the state who are in the process of administering those vaccinations.
As frustrating as this is for every single one of us, this will obviously be a much longer process than any of us would like. And it’s going to require a great deal of patience for many months while the state continues to push the federal government and the manufacturers to increase their production and drastically increase the allocations to the states. I will be discussing that again today with the Biden administration along with my fellow governors from across the country immediately following this press conference. In the meantime, we’re deal with what we can actually control here at the state level. By building the broadest hospital vaccination network to further expand deployment, the maximum utilization of the limited doses as we receive them.
As of today, as I said, 95 percent of the state’s vaccine allocations have already been deployed, distributed and delivered to frontline vaccinators including local health departments, hospitals, pharmacies, and assisted living and skilled nursing facilities and all of phase one is now open, including Maryland residents over age 65. Those Maryland vaccination providers have now administered nearly 400,000 vaccines. 348,026 of those are first doses. 75.9 percent of all of Maryland’s first doses have already been completed.
The remaining doses are nearly all spoken for already. We have received 208,725 which are required for second doses and 23.3 percent of those have already been utilized. These obviously can only be administered within certain time frames, either 21 days or 28 days, depending on the vaccine, after the first dose. So those can’t be sped up. They have to be given at the date they’re allowed to be given. Through the federal contracts, CVS and Walgreens have completed all of their initial clinics at all 227 nursing homes across Maryland. They’re contracted to provide three clinics at each nursing home in the state to make sure that vaccines are available to every single resident or staff member who wants one. They’ve already begun second shots at nursing homes.
And today have now moved into part “B” of the federal partnership which now includes doing vaccinations at the 1,680 assisted living facilities and other long‑term care facilities in Maryland. CDC is now requiring Maryland to set aside approximately 20,000 of our weekly allocated doses for this federal long‑term care program. Which leaves only 50,000 doses per week remaining for all of the other providers in the state. 198,562 dose have been deployed to the 24 county health departments. And they have completed 136,846 vaccinations.
County health departments have been able to pick up their pace with the help of the Maryland National Guard, mobile vaccination support teams that we sent in. More than 370 members of the guard have assisted with thousands of vaccinations in Prince George’s, Charles, Baltimore, Anne Arundel, St. Mary’s and Talbot Counties. The state has also deployed 825 Maryland responds members to 11 jurisdictions including Prince George’s, Charles counties, Baltimore city as well as Baltimore, Cecil, Frederick, Howard, Kent, Montgomery and Queen Anne’s County.
A task force of state officials are working around the clock to recruit and assign more vaccinators for those counties that have requested assistance. Maryland has 465 active provider organizations which are ready to hire and train as many vaccinators as are necessary. County leaders have requested and we have granted them flexibility in how their health departments decide to utilize the doses they receive as long as they prioritize the elderly and the vulnerable populations. 365,788 doses have been deployed and delivered to Maryland’s hospitals and health care systems. They have now completed 190,882 vaccinations.
Consistent with a state health order, hospitals that have 75 percent of utilization are not being prioritized for additional allocations and will not receive allocations until they demonstrate that they can pick up the pace. Last week, we ‑‑ hospitals by vaccinating their own critical staff, to begin utilizing their remaining doses for older Marylanders and priority populations. Nearly 40 hospitals have already exceeded this network to do so. Hospitals that hold vaccination clinics for the public will be prioritized for additional allocations.
In anticipation of an increased supply from the federal government, this week we began the process of opening more points of access through multiple, private sector pharmacy partnerships. This week, 22 Giant locations in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties and throughout the Baltimore region and three Martin’s locations in Washington and Allegany counties as well as ten Walmart locations on the eastern shore and western Maryland have all begun offering vaccinations.
In addition, 16 Safeway and Rite Aid location will begin to offer vaccinations beginning next week. Given that supply remains very limited and we are focused on equitable distribution, we’re utilizing data and modeling to prioritize underserved areas and places where there’s the greatest need. To that end, we are working to support hard‑to‑reach areas and populations by setting up mobile clinics in partnership with Rite Aid. As soon as the state receives higher allocations from the federal government, our infrastructure will already be in place and we will be able to quickly expand well beyond these pilot programs to include much higher volumes, more and more pharmacies and many more locations across the state.
There are currently more than 100 vaccine providers in the state including pharmacies, hospitals and local health department clinics. This number is growing weekly and will continue to expand as the supply increases. You can go to COVIDvax.maryland.gov to find a list of current vaccination sites in your county. As well as the appropriate platform for scheduling appointments. At this time, because of the serious shortage of vaccines, vaccinations are only being done by appointment only. And vaccination providers will require verification of your eligibility.
Obviously as we have said at every press conference over the last month or so, due to the extremely limited supply of vaccines, these appointments will fill up very quickly and you should expect to be put on a waiting list. Again, with the anticipation that the federal government will be able to address these supply chain issues and that they will increase delivery to the states, we have directed the Maryland Department of Health and the Maryland National Guard to work with county leaders, with hospitals and private partners to establish mass vaccination sites. And at least six central locations statewide.
By the end of the week, hundreds of Maryland National Guard members who have been in Washington protecting our nation’s capital will be immediately reassigned to plan and build and launch these mass vaccination sites. Beyond the process of converting the state’s six flag Americas testing site in Prince George’s County to serve as a mass vaccination site which will open no later than next Friday, February 5th. In addition, through a partnership with the University of Maryland Medical System and the Baltimore City health department, we will be opening a mass vaccination site at M&T Bank Stadium as soon as we’re able to secure higher allotments of the vaccine. In order to get mass vaccination in Baltimore City up and running sooner than that, the Baltimore City field site will begin providing vaccinations by next Friday, February 5th. The convention center is one of the most advanced COVID care sites in the country. We opened it in the spring as a field hospital for surge capacity. We then expanded it to become our highest performing testing center and then later to include a center for groundbreaking antibody treatments and now it will provide vaccinations to the general public.
We’re currently finalizing sites for regional mass vaccination centers on the eastern shore, in western Maryland, and in southern Maryland. I am committed to activating as many members of the National Guard as are needed to accomplish this critical, life‑saving mission. We had productive discussions today with FEMA regarding the potential opening of federally‑supported regional mass vaccination hubs. In addition, FEMA just approved our request for an additional $219 million in federal funding to support Maryland’s COVID‑19 emergency vaccination programs.
After consulting with physicians and medical experts at Maryland’s leading health care systems, including University of Maryland, Hopkins, and MedStar, beginning Monday, February 1, we’re expanding eligibility for severely immunocompromised individuals such as those receiving chemotherapy and those with certain immune disorders who require frequent medical care. Those individuals will be eligible to receive vaccinations through their hospital providers. Dr. Marcozzi will provide more details about that in just a few minutes.
Lastly, I just want to thank and extend my appreciation to all of the vaccinators, the hospitals, the local health departments, the pharmacists, the Maryland National Guard, our state health department, many of them have been working around the clock, seven days a week, to serve the community. After everything that we’ve all been through over the past year, I know that people are really sick of this virus. We’re completely fed up and frustrated right now. Trust me. I know exactly how you feel. No one is more frustrated than I am. And no one is more ready to put this pandemic behind us than I am.
We can’t fix all of these problems by ourselves. We can’t fix them overnight. But I can assure you that we will keep doing everything that we possibly can to push the federal government for more vaccines. We’re going to leverage every possible resource we can find and support the vaccinators, to help them get shots into arms as quickly as possible. And we will not rest until the vaccine is available to every Marylander who wants one. I’ve always been a guy who tells it like it is. And the truth is that this is not going to magically get better overnight. The last ten months has been really hard. It is going to be much harder.
I ask all Marylanders to ‑‑ as difficult as it is, to please be patient with the vaccination providers. They’re all doing the very best they can with really limited resources. Also would ask you that when it is your turn, to get the vaccine, to please be ready to get that vaccine. Because getting vaccinated is the best way that we can return to a sense of normalcy. It is a way to keep ‑‑ your family and friends and community healthy and safe.
It is the way that we’re going to be able to prevent more illnesses, more hospitalizations and more deaths. And it is the way that we’re going to finally get to the point where we can bring this pandemic to an end. At this time, I’m going to turn it over to Dr. Marcozzi to discuss the path for immunocompromised individuals and then over to Dennis Schrader. Dr. Marcozzi.
DAVID MARCOZZI: Thank you, Governor Hogan, Secretary Schrader. Your continued leadership to our state during this unprecedented time.
Good afternoon. I’m honored again to speak to you today. I want to begin by thanking my fellow Marylanders. On a daily basis, I’m inspired by the actions we’re all taking to continue to help each other fight back against COVID‑19. This can be seen through our ‑‑ as the governor describes or simply by going out to the grocery store. Whether it is wearing a mask over your nose and mouth, talking to a colleague about vaccination or connecting to some, our collective actions are having an impact on this pandemic. Data in our state and case positivity to hospitalizations suggest that our policies are working. Working because all of us are pulling together.
Many national and world leaders remind us though that COVID‑19 remains a threat. Like a smoldering fire in a dry forest. There was a time and when this virus moves between us if we aren’t wearing masks. None of us should be overly confident during this period. As of this morning, our state has lost over 6,788 neighbors, colleagues, friends, and family members to this deadly disease.
Now we have a new twist in the pandemic. Variants. Yes, this virus is changing and mutating. It is a natural part of the way viruses multiply. Variant is a small change in a virus which may or may not lead to ability to infect us all. As a result, many questions about COVID‑19 variants including if you can identify here in Maryland. It is important to note that current vaccines remain effective against the mutate variants. Today the predominant strain in the U.S. come March.
Continuing before active surveillance and research to identify other variants of COVID‑19 and their impact is another important effort our state and regions are undertaking. I’m proud to be in an emergency position. In fact, treating patients during a time of crisis is one of my greatest honors. Typically, honestly, emergency position might not think too often about vaccines. That is until you or your child did not receive one. Then, and all too often, individuals become severely ill, requiring emergency treatment because of a preventable illness.
Let me provide an example of a life‑saving vaccine we all take for granted. The influenza type B would prevent a bacterial infection. It was introduced in 1987 and is administered in a four-dose series from a pediatrician during infancy. This vaccine has a 98 percent efficacy and has resulted in a dramatic decrease in illness including the deadly meningitis. Yes, vaccines work! They’re safe and they’re a wonderful tool to protect us all.
There is good news that there are more COVID‑19 vaccines close to being authorized for use. It is anticipated that Johnson & Johnson’s COVID vaccine efficacy data will be available in a few weeks and shortly thereafter, will be submitted to the FDA for consideration. The J & J vaccine is a single dose shot with less cold storage requirement. So the authorization of this vaccine could be a game‑changer. Once the FDA approves this or other vaccines, it will improve vaccine availability and greatly assist our vaccination efforts which we all started just over one month ago. There are many risks to becoming critically ill and dying from COVID‑19. Some risks are due to medical conditions while others are not. The prioritization set by the governor and agreed to by representatives from major health systems alone allow for those at higher risk of death per the CDC guidelines to receive a vaccine earlier. These new high‑risk additions are for cancer patients currently in active treatment, adrenal stage requiring dialysis, patients who have chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, solid organ transplant recipient, sickle‑cell disease and diabetic patients.
In addition to those high‑risk conditions, access to health care and challenges saved by transportation as other risk factors for severe COVID‑19 infection and death. The fact is this virus is amplifying health care disparities. National data on COVID‑19 from the CDC illustrates this. African‑Americans and Hispanics are more ‑‑ are about four times more likely to be hospitalized and two times more likely to die from COVID‑19 than are whites.
In short, community leaders, educators and those of us in public health and health care must recognize the issue and work to address it. I am impatient. Perhaps that helps me in the emergency department because it is a frustration when I’m waiting for vaccines for our state. Expanding the category and addressing health care disparities does not, unfortunately, rectify the issue that limits vaccines will be our unfortunate present‑day situation. This will make a national challenge and hopefully the vaccine candidates will receive FDA approval. As more suppliers receive, we’re putting in an approach for vaccination. One that engages the private sector and the public sector from hospitals to churches, from insurers to grocery stores, from clinics to mobile vans to reach into hard‑to‑reach communities.
Today’s mass vaccination efforts at the convention center and M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore continues to actualize and all of Maryland approach as these will be staffed by state employees, Maryland National Guardsmen and colleagues together, shoulder to shoulder, to get this work done. On Martin Luther King Day, I had the honor of vaccinating someone over 75 years of age.
During the difficult times, everyone was working for being vaccinated and was optimistic. Something I hadn’t seen in some time. I took great pride in participating, particularly that national holiday. It has taught me a lot about the human spirit. My colleagues in health care continue to demonstrate unending courage and stamina. I’ve seen coworkers, neighbors and friends all stand in solidarity against this virus and support each other. We’re getting used to this. We don’t like it. We’re realizing how to cope but look forward to reconnecting in person. We’re anxious to have our state opening back up and realize that this time is coming as more of us are vaccinated and our continued vigilance. Together, we Marylanders are persevering despite this virus. Let’s keep it up. I’ll pass it over to Secretary Schrader.
DENNIS SCHRADER: Thank you, Governor Hogan, Brigadier Birckhead, Major Gowen and Governor Hogan. It requires meticulous planning, coordination and collaboration across the state. In preparation for mass vaccination sites, the Maryland Department of Health is developing a broad, scalable vaccine administration infrastructure. We’re using our COVID‑19 testing infrastructure as a model.
If you recall, the testing infrastructure proved very successful as we grew from 50 tests a day initially to upwards of over 50,000 tests per day. The testing infrastructure features a wide variety of site models, some small, some large, some better suited to pedestrians, others better suited to drivers. Our infrastructure featured different site models that complement the communities they serve.
As we plan the placement of these sites across the state, we’re considering our many communities’ unique needs and ensuring that Marylanders have equitable access to vaccines. Our goal is to have an efficient combination of models across the state. The Maryland Department of Health is facilitating public and private partnerships with hospitals, retail pharmacies, private practices, and community‑based organizations to make this scalable infrastructure a reality.
Our local health departments have been the backbone of our initial vaccine distribution system. They have ‑‑ they are vaccinating individuals who are currently eligible in each jurisdiction in Maryland. Hospitals in large private practices joined early on. They have taken care of many of our frontline health care heroes and they’re helping us to vaccinate vulnerable priority populations. Retail pharmacy began administering vaccines just yesterday.
We’re now running a pilot program at Giant and Martin’s and Walmart locations from the eastern shore to western Maryland and more densely populated urban areas in between. High-capacity community sites match vaccination sites. It will take shape into next week. We’re working with communities where we can serve large numbers of eligible individuals efficiently. Sites will be operated by clinical partners, churches and hospitals that do the actual vaccinating with the needle in arms.
As we receive more vaccines, we can scale the operations to serve more and more Marylanders. The Department of Health created a public web page for vaccination site listing as was mentioned earlier. COVIDvax.maryland.gov. Marylanders can use this locator tool to find available appointments and vaccination sites and directly access scheduling tools. Keep in mind though that appointments may not be immediately available at sites closest to an individual’s residence. All vaccination providers are asked to list their appointment web pages and phone numbers on this site.
We are now in phase one C and has been said over two million Marylanders are eligible for vaccines including the most vulnerable Marylanders in all residents 65 and older. A person’s eligibility never expires and Marylanders who are eligible in previous phases remain eligible. Eligible Marylanders who have an increasing number of vaccination options each week and when the vaccine supply is ready, the vaccination sites will be ready. The expansion of eligibility helps to assure that no vaccine goes to waste.
We are working with our partners to make sure the vaccination sites have the necessary auxiliary supply and personal protective equipment. The state is also actively recruiting personnel to support local jurisdiction sites through Maryland med now and Maryland responds. Maryland responds has placed over 7,700 volunteers. In addition, we’re looking for interested parties and providers that can register on ImmuNet which is our long‑standing website to become a vaccination provider and you can find that at www.MD ImmuNet.org.
Let me say in closing by establishing a robust infrastructure now, while vaccine supply remained limited for all states, we can deliver and administer doses when the national supply chain matures. When Maryland receives more vaccine, we’ll be ready to distribute them and a variety of providers will be prepared to administer them. Thank you, governor.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: With that, we would be happy to take some questions.
Q (Off Microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I can answer that. We have not seen other than one case where a refrigerator failed. Across the board, people are using it. We’re actually getting more out of certain doses where we found that we can get six shots instead of five. So to the credit of the people who have been doing this, the vaccinators, we’ll be very careful and have not observed waste.
(Question off microphone).
SPEAKER: The state‑run will be available to anyone in the state.
(Question off microphone).
SPEAKER: The local health department will make decisions. All of those Giants and Safeways all over Prince George’s County can get people vaccinated. When we open up the Six Flags site, that will be a state that anyone from anywhere can get vaccinated.
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We’re hopeful. I have a call right after this and all governors with the Biden team. We heard a week or two ago that there were 55 million more doses sitting in Michigan that they said the Trump administration hadn’t acquired. That turned out to not be true. Then we heard we would go from one million to 1.5 million a day. We heard that two days ago. That’s apparently not true. There is some report about a 16 percent increase. So we get instead of 10,000 a day, we get another 1,000 a day. We’re doing 18,000 a day. That’s not going to make much of a difference.
(Question off microphone).
SPEAKER: We’re all in this together. I’m not trying to point fingers. They’re not holding the bag, I don’t think. This is a very difficult thing. Operation Warp Speed was a year or so ahead of schedule. There are only two companies. They just can’t make them fast enough. So it is not like ‑‑ there’s no place for us to go buy them even if we were allowed to. They don’t have them. Everybody in the world wants them and there are only so many. That’s why we have to get as Dr. Marcozzi touched on in his remarks, we’re close apparently on this Johnson & Johnson which would be a tremendous breakthrough, we’ll be making them right here in Maryland. It is a one‑shot deal. That will be terrific but it’s not here yet.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: We don’t know. We’re trying to get it right. For the first three, four weeks, everybody was complaining ‑‑ we have too many. Not enough people were taking it. 60 percent of the health care workers weren’t getting it. Only one‑third of the people in nursing homes were taking it. They were sitting around on shelves. All of our local county health departments and the CDC and the federal government, both the Trump Administration and the Biden Administration said you need to open it up to more groups.
They all specifically said to open it up to phase 1B and 1C. Why are other states opening up and why are you not? And then when we did, you said why. We’re all trying to get ‑‑ we’re assuming they’re going to get up to speed but we didn’t have enough for phase 1A. We don’t know how many people are going to take it. We don’t have enough for everybody. We can’t have them going bad on the shelf. But we don’t want to run out, either. We’re better than 31 other states. Almost everybody is in the same category. It wasn’t just the desire.
Before he left, Robert Redfield pleaded and then Biden said the same thing. They were pressing. Our county leaders were begging. Most of you in the media were saying why can’t 65‑year‑olds get it here like in other states?
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: So we ‑‑ the state board of education approved safe reopening plan for every single school in Maryland in August, July. We authorized every school to open. A majority of the school systems did bring at least some of the kids back in. All of the private schools opened in August. We now have five or six months with very little problem. Many states have been open entirely since then.
Anthony Fauci, the State Board of Education, Joe Biden, everyone wants to get kids back in school. Who said at the press conference last week that we still want to get kids back in school. Since then, five or six have said they’re changing their plans and start getting kids back in school. That’s great progress. But we also said contingent on every teacher getting vaccinated. Many schools have been open for five months without any vaccines. Every teacher doesn’t have to go to school if people don’t want their kids to go back to school but certain kids need opportunity at least to get an education after a year of not getting one.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I’m sorry. I didn’t get that. You’re at the back of the room and you have a mask.
I think we’ve got to get a stimulus bill passed and I think, as I said on the last three stimulus bills, I just hope that we’ll find a way for republicans and democrats to reach some type of an agreement. I don’t think we can’t get take it or leave it.
This is the Pelosi‑Biden bill and republicans better get on board. I don’t think they should say no way, Jose, we won’t have a stimulus. If we have to work through the issues and get through something done. We never got any assistance. We’re shooting for a stable government. We need for people out there suffering, we have to get a stimulus bill done. It was a good start but it wasn’t enough. I don’t think you can say it has to be exactly this bill. I think there’s certainly some negotiating and I’ll try to help drag people to the middle of the room.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: It is just the way our system is set up. State health department, we have county health officers and we have county health departments in each jurisdiction. They’re the ones ‑‑ same thing we did on testing. Build the testing which is one of the best in America.
It is the way the CDC recommends it. It is the way other states are doing it. They’re on the frontlines to give them the flexibility. We’re providing the assistance they need. There’s no state workforce to go out and do 24 jurisdictions and stick needles in the arms. Many of them started off ‑‑ some of them are doing great. The whole state, they’re running out of vaccines. This side is getting all of the questions. I have to pick.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I just answered that one. It was the outgoing administration and the incoming administration and the local health departments and people everywhere pushing to ‑‑ for us to expand it to those groups and the argument before was no one is using these and they’re sitting on the shelf. We didn’t want them to expire so we had to get them in arms. Since then, we went from 10,000 a day to 18,000 a day. So it worked. On the weekends, we were only doing 2,000 a day and some of you, some others were upset about that. Then we went up to 20,000. Yes, there’s not enough for everybody. We knew that would be the case. I’ve said that repeatedly at five or six press conferences. We got twice as many done.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I know this is really frustrating. If I was trying to get a vaccine for a parent or somebody, why can’t I get my shot? We have 100,000 people, 200,000 people who want to make an appointment. We don’t know when we’re going to get more supply. So if this county said we’re going to schedule them now, we can say we can schedule you for October. It would be better to say all of our appointments are full. Contact us when we get more and so you can’t schedule appointments for too many people when you don’t have the doses. We don’t know when and if we’ll get more doses. That’s just the way the system is. We only can get what we get.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: Not to put Dr. Marcozzi on the spot but at first when we rolled them out, hospitals came first. It was the holidays. They were short‑staffed. They were busy taking care of patients. I think it picked up pretty steadily. They’re still behind. The county health department. I think they’re picking up the pace and I think some people, because they were in critical positions and busy taking care of patients, maybe they waited for the first round and they’re now picking up the slack. I think they have them on their schedule. They didn’t want to vaccinate the entire hospital at the same time. Many are spoken for and many are scheduled for those slots like we’re talking about.
(Question off microphone).
GOVERNOR HOGAN: I spoke with the County Executive from Montgomery County yesterday and I spoke with Prince George’s County yesterday. Came to our attention. Our website, COVIDvax.maryland.gov does not schedule any appointments at all. This is an old system that is run by a private contractor that had other types of vaccines and other things. We’ve addressed the issue. People are going on there mistakenly and trying to book appointments. It was for other types of medical things like flu shots. It is not where you should be going. I think they’ve fixed it.
DAVID MARCOZZI: Let me address that, governor. We have a system. There are a lot of vaccinations for children and other folks that were in that system. What we decided is we wanted to design a more robust system just for COVID. That’s what the website is for and we’re in the process of bringing that up. But at the same time, we don’t want to cut off our citizens from these very important other vaccines.
The volume and scale of what we need for COVID is so much greater to be able to handle that volume. But we don’t want to cut it off because it is important. We’re working on it as we speak. I’m expecting answers within the next 24 hours. The timing. I don’t want to shoot from the hip. But we’re committed to changing that and building something more robust that’s going on as we speak.
(Question off microphone).
SPEAKER: I don’t know about how many. They have a location in Baltimore, they have about 1800 employees in Maryland. We talked about them quite a by the. They have contracts both with Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca to produce ‑‑ to be the manufacturer of their vaccines and I think they’re already in the process of preparing for that EUA. I don’t know what goes into the production of them but they’re ready as soon as they get that EUA to start cranking out hundreds of millions of vaccines. So I’m supposed to be talking with the CEO of that group. I’ll be talking with them. But in Johnson & Johnson gets the go‑ahead, we’ll be making them in Maryland.