Coronavirus Vaccines Distributed in Maryland

Sofia Morais

01/06/2021

On Monday, December 14, Shawn Hendricks was the first person in Maryland to receive the coronavirus vaccine. 

Hendricks says, “Right now, I feel good. It is like getting the flu vaccine…. I know this is going to be needed, so we can end this pandemic.”

Maryland will receive 155,000 doses of the coronavirus vaccine by the end of 2021, 50,700 being Phizer and 104,300 being Moderna. In October, Maryland’s vaccine plan was approved by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Governor Larry Hogan wants all 155,000 vaccines given by the end of January 2021. Currently, health care workers have been the first to receive the vaccine. The coronavirus vaccine plan in Maryland is outlined in four phases. 

Phase 1A specifies for health care workers, staff and residents at long-term care facilities, and first responders to be the first to receive the vaccine. Phase 1B will contain people at high risk of severe coronavirus illness. However, the vaccine plan also states for the Maryland judiciary, jail staff, and prisoners to be vaccinated in Phase 1. Roughly 14% of the Maryland population is in Phase 1. 

People at moderate risk of severe coronavirus illness and critical essential workers that are not medical staff will be part of Phase 2. This includes school staff, utility, and transit workers. Some government officials are arguing for school staff to be part of Phase 1. Maryland state schools Superintendent Karen Salmon requested the Maryland Department of Health to include school staff in Phase 1. 

She says, “Prolonged school closures have resulted in our children experiencing diminished academic achievement and social-emotional distress.”

The last phase includes the rest of the population, which the CDC will need to approve. It will depend on the vaccine availability, and when recipients in the previous phases have received the vaccine. Children under the age of 16 are not yet authorized to get the coronavirus vaccine. Vaccine trials for teens ages 12-15 have begun but were not within the vaccine plan sent to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Tests still need to be conducted in children and younger teens to ensure the dosage amount. The Maryland National Guard will help distribute the vaccine and set up mobile clinics. Maryland officials promised ten million dollars for coronavirus vaccine-related supplies. 

About 40 Maryland medical centers are working on coronavirus therapeutics or vaccines. The University of Maryland Medical center was the first in the country to test the Phizer vaccine. Leading a campaign encouraging Marylanders to get the vaccine are Governor Hogan and Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford. Both will receive the vaccine publicly to reassure the safety of the vaccine. 

“While we still have several months of difficult struggles ahead of us,” remarked Governor Hogan, “This is a turning point and a light at the end of a very long tunnel, and the beginning of the end of this deadly pandemic.”