Maryland officials unveil equity task force to improve vaccine access.

[elleng]

The task force will launch a vaccination site in Prince George's County later this month.

Maryland officials announced the state's vaccine equity task force on Thursday, in an effort to facilitate equitable COVID-19 vaccine distribution that Gov. Larry Hogan described as the first of its kind in any state.

"From day one, Maryland has made equitable access to vaccines a top priority," Hogan said in a press conference Thursday. Maryland officials announced the state's vaccine equity task force on Thursday, in an effort to facilitate equitable COVID-19 vaccine distribution that Gov. Larry Hogan described as the first of its kind in any state.

"From day one, Maryland has made equitable access to vaccines a top priority," Hogan said in a press conference Thursday.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/vaccine/maryland-equity-task-force-vaccine-access-prince-georges-county/65-b5883ef6-5551-49b8-9245-5f0f52b036b8?

Gov. Larry Hogan Defends Controversial Response Over Baltimore City COVID-19 Vaccines.

Gov. Larry Hogan defended his controversial response to WJZ Investigator Mike Hellgren’s question last week about Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott’s demand that Hogan reserve some doses at state-run mass vaccination sites for city residents.

Gov. Hogan said at the time that Baltimore was getting more vaccines than the city was “entitled to.”

https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2021/03/02/governor-hogan-brandon-scott-covid-19-vaccines-latest/

[I_UndergroundPanther]

1. prince georges

is one of the richest counties in maryland and I believe annapolis is there too. Why there first? why not a poor county? or Baltimore city?

[elleng]

2. Montgomery County is the richest in MD,

and the largest. Even so, Hogan's not a fan, it appears.

'U.S. Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-Md. 8) and David Trone (D-Md. 6) have written a letter to Gov. Larry Hogan and Maryland’s Acting Secretary of Health Dennis Schrader urging that the state open a mass vaccination site in Montgomery County.

“[D]espite Montgomery suffering the worst casualty rate in Maryland and despite having the second-highest number of cases in the state, it still has no mass vaccination site for its population of more than one million people,” Raskin and Trone write.

Raskin and Trone make the case in the letter that as six statewide mass vaccination sites are operating across Maryland, Hogan’s administration is not fully promoting their “goal of ensuring equitable vaccine distribution to vulnerable communities” by not having a mass vaccination site in Montgomery County. The two representatives note that Montgomery County is “the most populous county” in Maryland, which has “a majority-minority population and is the most diverse County in Our state.”

The representatives write that Montgomery County’s diverse “demographics present complex challenges for the local health department in vaccine distribution which could be successfully addressed with a local mass vaccination site.” They say that it’s “wishful thinking” to believe Montgomery County’s “lower-income, working-class, immigrant, and senior residents” can take time out of work or make travel arrangements to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the “distant sites.”'>>>

https://www.mymcmedia.org/raskin-trone-urge-hogan-to-open-mass-vaccination-site-in-montgomery-county/

Problems with Baltimore County, Hogan's not a fan, it appears.