Anne Arundel health officer, firefighters vaccinated
County continues the rollout of COVID- 19 vaccination
The Anne Arundel health officer received a coronavirus vaccine Wednesday morning, kicking off a day of appointmentonly drive- thru vaccinations in Glen Burnie, where about 200 firefighters and other first responders lined up to be vaccinated.
Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman and others were inoculated with the Moderna vaccine, one of two vaccines distributed throughout the country. The other is created by Pfizer- BioNTech. Hundreds of county workers, mostly frontline health workers and first responders, have received the vaccine. Both vaccines require two doses a few weeks after the first to finalize protections.
The health officer said he was getting the vaccine Wednesday to show county residents it is safe to do so. He plans to share his experience after getting the vaccine and will receive his second dose in 28 days.
He didn’t wince as the needle entered his arm.
“Iwant to demonstrate that it’s safe and that it’s effective,” Kalyanaraman said.
Vaccination efforts have begun nationwide after federal officials approved the rollout of both vaccines. Anne Arundel Medical Center and the University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center have been giving vaccines to frontline health care workers. Maryland has targeted the most at- risk populations for the vaccine as production is ramped up and distribution continues. The first slate of recipients includes health careworkers and the elderly most at- risk for severe effects fromthe coronavirus.
Before he pulled off his sweater to get his shot, Kalyanara man looked directly into TV cameras and rattled off a list of reasons why the vaccine is safe and why residents should get one when available to them.
He said the vaccine trials had been more representative of the diverse community than past trials, and evidence shows it was highly effective for all racial and ethnic groups tested.
“This has been a hard year — it has been hard on all of us,” Kalyanaraman said. “We are at risk of overwhelming our hospitals. Even as we talk about vaccines and the benefits that will come from them, we still have to take those precautions, wearing masks, washing hands, keeping distance and avoiding large gatherings.”
Even after receiving the vaccine, residents will need to abide by these guidelines until officials can be sure population immunity is reached, he said. “And that’s going to take a while.”
Other officials attended the event, including county Fire Chief Trisha Wolford and Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley. None of these individuals received the vaccine Wednesday, saying they appeared to show support and remind residents to trust science.
“Believe in the science,” said Buckley, who wore a mask that read: “We wear becausewe care.”
He said he’s grateful for Kalyanaraman’s leadership through “this crisis that we’ve all been dealing with, that a lot of us never thought we would ever happen to us in our lifetime.”
As the Department of Health launched its mass vaccination program, Buckley said he was proud to support the first responders who worked in risky situations throughout the pandemic.
Wolford said she was happy to see the first batch of firefighters receive the vaccine and said firefighters would continue to wear personal protective equipment and practice social distancing as much as possible for the foreseeable future.
Fire department Capt. Bud Zapata delivered a message about the vaccine in Spanish and English, imploring residents to get in line as soon as the state permits it.
“It will be free; it will help build protection against COVID- 19; it will help our bodies build immunity preventing severe illness or death from the coronavirus,” he said.
Vaccinations are planned to continue throughout the state. As more vaccines become available and more people are inoculated, the state plans to expand eligibility to receive the vaccine.
Kalyanaraman said vaccinations at county hospitals are proceeding at a “fairly rapid clip.” But progress at long- term care facilities, where elderly county residents have been particularly hard hit with infections, is more opaque.
The county, like the rest of Maryland, is relying on the Walgreens and CVS pharmacy chains to vaccinate residents of nursing homes and retirement communities, but the health department does not have a clear picture of howmany shots have made it to arms in these facilities.
” That’s a question we’re asking,” Kalyanaraman said.“We’re trying to get information on the numbers they’ve vaccinated, andwe don’t have that yet.”
Budget constraints exacerbate the problem. Without additional funding for vaccination efforts, the health department has been strained as it handles inoculations and testing for the virus, planning to prevent hospital overload and educating the public.
“We’re doing it,” Kalyanaraman said, “but it’s stretching an already stretched health department.”