It will be used to ‘vaccinate the vaccinators.’ 
Frederick, Md (KM) The Frederick County Health Department is expected to get its 100 doses of the Moderna vaccine against the COVID-19 virus. That’s according to Dr. Barbara Brookmyer, Frederick County Health Officer, who says each health department in Maryland will be receiving the exact same amount at first..
The vaccines will be coming from the state. “They selected 100 across the board so that it would be an opportunity for them test their distribution, and for each of the local health departments to test the receipt,” she says. “After that, we will be getting our shipments based on our population and some other factors. It won’t will be the same amount in each jurisdiction. And hopefully, it will be larger amounts but we don’t know yet.”
Dr, Brookmyer spoke during the County Executive’s public information briefing on Tuesday. She said these vaccines will be used to vaccinate those who will be administering the vaccine to other people.
On related topic, Dr. Brookmyer says vaccinations will soon begin at local nursing homes and long term care facilities, which have been hit hard by the coronavirus. She says all of these facilities have signed up for a federal program where residents and employees at these long term care centers will be vaccinated against COVID-19
The vaccines will be administered by CVS and Walgreen pharmacies, which will receive shipments of the Pfizer vaccine.. “The plan is that they will have three visits. The first visit to try to get all the residents and the staff vaccinated. The second visit would be to do the second dose for individuals and anyone who was missed on the first go-round would get their first dose. The third visit would be to provide that second dose to persons who had their first dose on the second visit,” she said.
Both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines require two doses to be an effective defense against COVID-19.
Under the state plan, the vaccine will be first administered to front line health care professionals, residents of long term care facilities’ and staff, and first responders. The Frederick County Health Department says members of the public will be given instructions in the coming weeks about how to sign up for the vaccine.
By Kevin McManus