GREENBELT, Md. — Governor Larry Hogan on Wednesday visited the newly formed FEMA mass vaccination site at the Greenbelt Metro Station in Prince George's County.
The event however didn't come without criticism.
While Hogan and other leaders gathered for a press conference, the city's Mayor made some not so kind remarks about the Governor and the state's vaccination roll out.
"The state's highest ranking elected official has unfortunately subjected people of color and people of all backgrounds in places like Prince George's County and places like Baltimore City to claims of over-entitlement." said Greenbelt Mayor, Colin Byrd. "While people of color in this county and all across this state continue to have a high demand and a high need for the vaccine the state has chosen on many occasions to scapegoat people of color across the state as people who simply do not want the vaccine. Nothing could be further from the truth," Byrd continued.
The Mayor didn't stop there, he went on to chastise Hogan about lifting restrictions and reopening the state too soon, and even slammed the hiring of former Trump CDC Director Robert Redfield.
At one point Hogan appeared to interject prompting Byrd to say, "I'll wrap it up in a second Mr. Governor, you're in my city sir."
Soon after an aide or event organizer tried cutting off the microphone, before deciding to let Byrd finish.
When it was his turn to speak, a reporter asked Hogan for a response to Byrd's comments."I would disagree with every word he said," Hogan replied. "I can tell you the Mayor has had nothing to do with our vaccine effort or this site and didn't have any idea of what he was talking about."
Hogan also revealed the state would be receiving 80,000 less doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine than was initially expected this week.
However, between the 21,000 shots being given at the new FEMA clinic and slight increases in Pfizer and Moderna doses, Hogan expects to be only about 40,000 vaccines short.
"We anticipate we will be able to manage all of the appointments that are scheduled," said Hogan. "It's a little bit of an issue, we're scrambling to correct."
The news comes following the recent mix up at Emergent BioSolutions, and days after Hogan announced that anyone 16-and older could be eligible for a vaccine.
Several of the state's mass vaccination sites have also begun accepting walk-ups.
As of Thursday, 19.6 percent of the state has been fully vaccinated, according to the Maryland Department of Health.
