Officials outline plans for coronavirus vaccine distribution in Washington region
By Rebecca Tan, Erin Cox, Laura Vozzella and Michael Brice-Saddler
Officials in the Washington region laid out strategies Wednesday for distributing vaccines, as coronavirus-related hospitalizations and fatalities continued to climb across the area.
Maryland and Virginia officials said they expect their first shipments of vaccines in mid-December, although members of the general public will probably have to wait until the spring to receive doses.
Maryland Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford (R), who spoke at the opening of a Board of Public Works meeting, reiterated that the first vaccinations will go to health-care workers, then to employees at nursing homes — where the virus has made a deadly resurgence. He acknowledged that some residents in the state might be skeptical of getting the vaccine, but he noted that health-care experts — those who know the most about the disease — will be first in line.
“The hope is that 70 percent of the population will take the vaccine,” he said. “If we can get to that, hopefully we can squash the pandemic.”