MARYLAND, USA — Maryland Congressmen Jamie Raskin (D-8) and David Trone (D-6) wrote a letter on Thursday urging state officials to create a COVID-19 mass vaccination site in Montgomery County.
With more than a million residents, Montgomery County is the most populous county in Maryland. It has seen the highest numbers of coronavirus deaths and second-highest numbers of coronavirus cases of any Maryland county, according to data released by the Maryland Department of Health.
In their letter to Gov. Hogan and acting Secretary of Health Dennis Schrader, Raskin and Trone argued that Maryland's six mass vaccination sites, all located in other counties, can be difficult for vulnerable populations in Montgomery County to access.
"This offer seems like cold comfort when so many logistical hurdles face lower-income, working-class, immigrant and senior residents in Montgomery who are unable to arrange transportation or get time off from work to travel to distant sites," Raskin and Trone wrote. "There realities ... make the suggestion of daytime travel to other parts of the state seem like wishful thinking."
County data shows that while Black/African American and Latino/Hispanic communities comprise nearly 40% of Montgomery County's population, they've received just under 20% of the vaccines that have been administered.
Maryland state data shows an even more drastic discrepancy. While census data says Blacks/African Americans make up 31% of the state's population, they've only received 16% of the first doses that have been given.
But county leaders argue that simply setting up a mass vaccination site is not enough to ensure those residents are getting the vaccines.
According to state data, of approximately 25,000 vaccinations that have been administered at Six Flags in Bowie, only 3,500 went to people living in Prince George's County, compared to 20,000 from Montgomery, Howard and Anne Arundel counties combined.
"It’s one of the most disheartening and frustrating things," Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando said. "If you think about why disparities happen. People have access to time, to cars, to internet access, to the ability to scour in what I call these vaccine 'Hunger Games' for an appointment, and just putting it at Six Flags, where you need a car to get to, is not going to solve the problem unless you have prioritization."
In their letter, Raskin and Trone urged Hogan to improve vaccination efforts for vulnerable and diverse populations if the state could not support another mass vaccination site.
Hogan announced a state vaccine equity task force on Thursday that he said will partner with community organizations to improve COVID-19 vaccine access for vulnerable groups.
In a news conference unveiling the plan, Maryland National Guard Brigadier General Janeen Birckhead, who heads the task force, said community partnerships and vaccine sites in hard-hit areas would be a more efficient solution than setting up additional mass vaccination sites.
"We can get together with partners and go and address that immediately," Birkhead said. "A lot quicker than any mass vax site takes to stand up, and that takes quite a while."
Hogan said on Tuesday that "expanding the hours, the capacity, volume, and the number of mass vaccination sites is all contingent on future increases in supply from the federal government.”