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Coronavirus vaccine rollout continues to lag in Maryland and Virginia

An employee of a vaccination centre draws the vaccine from a glass ampoule in Kiel, Germany, Monday, Jan. 4, 2021. On Monday vaccinations against the coronavirus have started in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. (Frank Molter/dpa via AP)(AP/Frank Molter)

The rollout of the coronavirus vaccine in Maryland and Virginia is seeing a slow start, with both vaccinations — and the online data dashboards that track them — lagging behind, according to reports.

Maryland has given out more than 65,000 thousand doses of the coronavirus vaccine as of Monday, .

That’s just over 1% of the state’s population.

Maryland has vaccinated just over 1,000 people out of every 100,000. That puts the state ahead of just 10 other states.

Holiday interruptions, distribution issues and delayed reporting by contractors has been a problem, .

Dr. Leana Wen, a former Baltimore health commissioner told the Sun that the state needs dedicated staffing with real-time tracking of vaccines so officials know where more resources are needed.

Mike Ricci, a spokesman for Gov. Larry Hogan, told the Sun that the governor warned the launch would be slow after the federal government “was setting all kinds of expectations” about the vaccine.

Hogan will address the vaccine rollout Tuesday afternoon.

on Monday showed that fewer than 90,000 vaccines have been administered, barely 20% of the state’s current shipments, .

Gov. Ralph Northam’s office said that Virginia’s problem right now is data reporting and that it’s taking time for computer systems to feed into the immunization portal.

Alena Yarmosky, spokeswoman for Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, said in a statement: “Virginia’s main hiccups right now are around data reporting — our health care personnel have been 100% focused on getting shots in arms, but it’s taking a moment for reporting to catch up and for different computer systems to feed seamlessly into the Commonwealth’s central immunization data portal.” 


More Coronavirus News

Looking for more information? D.C., Maryland and Virginia are each releasing more data every day. Visit their official sites here: 

Valerie Bonk

Valerie Bonk started working at Ƶapp in 2016 and has lived in Howard County, Maryland, her entire life. She's thrilled to be a reporter for Ƶapp telling stories on air. She works as both a television and radio reporter in the Maryland and D.C. areas. 

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