On Tuesday, May 11, the FEMA-operated Community Vaccination Center in Greenbelt stopped giving new first shots of the Pfizer vaccine. Beginning Wednesday, May 12, the Greenbelt center will provide Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccinations and continue to provide Pfizer second doses for the remaining weeks the center is open. The center is currently open seven days a week and walk-ins are welcome. Hours of operation are Mondays and Tuesdays 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Wednesdays and Thursdays from noon to 8 p.m. and Fridays through Sundays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
“The Greenbelt Center has been an extremely successful vaccination operation, and we continue to encourage the residents of Maryland to come down and get vaccinated,” said Craig Levy, deputy federal coordinating officer for FEMA. Reasonable accommodation for people with access and functional needs is available as well as onsite interpretation in eight spoken languages along with American Sign Language with Certified Deaf Interpretation and Sensory Interpretation.
The Community Vaccination Center opened in parking lot 1A of the Greenbelt Metro station on April 7. This facility has the capacity to administer 3,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine every day. In the time since the center opened, staff have provided more than 75,000 vaccinations to residents.
Register for an appointment by visiting covidvax.maryland.gov or calling: 1-855-MD-GOVAX (1-855-634-6829). Anyone younger than 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to receive a vaccination.
Falloff in Demand
The FEMA site, however, is apparently seeing at least some falloff in new vaccinations (see story on this page). The blaze of publicity surrounding the FEMA site, the highly accessible Beltway location and its extended hours may have siphoned some of the crowds from Cheverly but an overall drop in new recipients is apparently being felt at both sites.
It is likely that individuals motivated to be vaccinated and with the resources to get themselves in the queue have now poured in the doors. But a more flexible and imaginative approach is needed to reach the substantial group whose work patterns, language, immigration status, transportation issues, fears or misinformation make vaccination more problematic. Government at the state and local level seems to be moving in this direction. In addition, because facilities are operated by different organizations, coordination is essential to not overreact to the decrease.
Boosting Demand
Governor Larry Hogan recently announced plans to incentivize state employees to get shots and potentially other large government and private sector employers will provide work site immunizations or incentives. Schools could also be focal points for vaccination as the eligible age groups get younger. As an example of what can be done, the county health department recently held an innovative 24-hour vaccine-a-thon at the Wayne K. Curry Sports and Learning Center.
The county this week also launched an outreach campaign to bring vaccines to the reluctant, underserved or transportation challenged. The county expects to individually contact over 200,000 eligible residents by phone, text or going door to door. Greenbelt is not targeted for this activity initially, but most neighboring municipalities are on the list.
Still Below Par
The number of Prince Georgians (population ~900,000) fully vaccinated stands at about 250,000, with about 100,000 still heading for their second shot and 20,000 who received single-shot vaccines. This means that about 370,000 residents are either fully vaccinated or in the pipeline to be vaccinated as of May 11 (though officials at the Cheverly site noted anecdotally that second shot recipients had a higher rate of no-shows). That leaves over 300,000 eligible residents (not counting those under 16) who have received no vaccine at all.
One and Done
To bring shots to underserved populations and include those who are reluctant or fearful, the focus will likely be on using single-shot vaccines. The county has several health department vans heading out into neighborhoods to catch people in their place of work or worship, while shopping or at home but this is inevitably a low-volume (if essential) means of distribution and the one-shot regimes require much less logistical support.
