ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY, Md. — Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman expressed disappointment in the Maryland Department of Health on Monday after he says the Department sent an email to Anne Arundel County Department of Health on Saturday at 8 p.m. announcing that the coming week’s allocation of vaccines would be reduced.
He said via his Facebook post that they were told the vaccines would be reduced from the 5,000 they had expected to only 2,925.
Pittman said that there are more than 70,000 residents that were pre-registered, and 5,000 that had appointments in this coming week.
"With only 2,935 vaccines coming, we were faced with the question of whose appointments should be canceled," he said in the post. The state’s allocation notice showed a five-fold increase in doses for our close partners at Luminis Health Anne Arundel Medical Center. They had no advance notice of this sudden shift from under 1,000 last week to 4,975 doses this coming week."
Pittman said to resolve this issue, Anne Arundel Medical Center will transfer nearly 2,000 doses to Anne Arundel County Department of Health, allowing them to vaccinate all 5,000 of the residents who are scheduled.
"I want to personally thank AAMC President Sherry Perkins for always doing the right thing for the health of our county residents," he continued.
Pittman says the local health departments across the state have "repeatedly" told the Governor and the Department of Health that "advance notice of vaccine allocations are an essential component of an efficient vaccine distribution program."
"We must schedule appointments with our residents each week based on the allocations we are to receive," he said. "We don’t know why the Governor’s staff cut this week’s vaccine allocations for Anne Arundel County Health Department, but I can assure you that we are doing everything we can to encourage the state to provide us with more doses."
His full post can be read below:
