COLUMBIA, Md. — The Athletics and Fitness Center at Howard Community College will operate as the county's second COVID-19 vaccination clinic, beginning January 25.
Officials say depending on the allotment handed out by the state, up to 1,500 doses could be administered at the clinic each day.
"We are committed to this effort well beyond providing facilities. Our Health Science division will help the health department with vaccine distribution. We anticipate that our students will be involved in the entire process, from intake to vaccination to out processing of patients," said Dr. Kate Hetherington, HCC President.
"Our expanded operations will allow us to vaccinate as many people as the supply allows and when we get more supply from the state, we have been and will continue be ready to efficiently and safely administer the vaccine," said County Executive Calvin Ball.
Howard County also began Phase 1B Tuesday. That group includes people ages 75 and up, residents in assisted living facilities or special needs group homes, those developmentally disabled, teachers K-12, and childcare providers.
More than 12,000 eligible county residents have already pre-registered for vaccinations and today the health department is starting to vaccinate registered seniors, but they are running out of doses. So far, the county has administered 92.6% of its received vaccine doses, including 7,600 under Phase 1A.
"We remain in a position of uncertainty about how much vaccine we will receive in a given delivery each week," said Dr. Maura Rossman, the Howard County Health Officer.
Today, the county requested 20,000 doses from the state to support the effort.
The Howard County General Hospital is also starting to vaccine patients over age 75.
"Eligible patients in this category would be people who have received care with Johns Hopkins Medicine over the last 2 weeks. Over the next few weeks, individuals who meet this criteria will be contacted via email or phone," said Dr. Shafeeq Ahmed, Howard County General Hospital Interim President.
The school system is getting ready to vaccinate teachers and staff in a phased-in approach under 1B.
"Our school nurses and health assistants will be receiving training this week on how to administer the vaccine and will be supporting the process to vaccine our staff and community," said Dr. Michael Martirano, HCPSS Superintendent.
If you’re a Howard County resident 65 years or older, you can pre-register for a vaccine online.
