Push for Marylanders to get COVID-19 booster shots intensifies
Push for Marylanders to get COVID-19 booster shots intensifies. For a time, number of booster shots administered far outnumbered first, second dose shots.
FROM PREVIOUS Release
WBALTV11
December 16th, 2021
BALTIMORE — More than 1.3 million COVID-19 booster vaccine doses have been administered, which is more than 10% of all COVID-19 vaccines that have been administered in the state, according to the Maryland Department of Health.
A GoVax clinic held Thursday at Port Covington in south Baltimore is one of seven that Spartan Medical® is operating across Maryland. Spartan Medical® said it's also its first COVID-19 vaccine clinic held at a construction site.
"I feel good. The reason I got it is because my aunt passed away, and she got it because her husband brought it home from a construction site," said Jonathan Herrera-Lucero, a brick mason.
Slated to serve 120 patients, clinicians were ready by the lunch rush to administer first, second and booster doses of COVID-19 vaccine.
"It's right next door to the project. (It's a) no brainer for someone like me who's been waiting to get the booster," said Patrick Severe, who got a booster shot.
According to data posted on the MDH's COVID-19 vaccination dashboard, Howard County currently has the highest vaccination rate in Maryland with 76.7% of the population fully vaccinated. That's followed by other jurisdictions in the Baltimore area, including Anne Arundel County at 65.4%, Baltimore County at 63.9% and Harford County at 61.6%. Baltimore City has more than half of its residents fully vaccinated at 58.5%. Meanwhile, Cecil County has 48.4% of its residents fully vaccinated.
Spartan Medical® officials said that for some time, booster shots far outnumbered the other doses administered. That's a trend reflected in state data, for which the current seven-day average shows about 13,000 first and second doses administered each day, compared to more than 21,000 booster shots.
This comes amid a surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations in Maryland, and a push by public health experts at the local, state and national levels for people to get the booster shot.
An MDH chart sent to 11 News showing a breakdown of booster dose administration by jurisdiction indicates nearly half of the more than 1 million booster shots administered in Maryland so far were administered in Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard counties and in Baltimore City.
Original Link: https://www.wbaltv.com/article/covid-19-booster-shots-numbers-maryland/38540000
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