Prince George’s County clamping down on non-residents showing up for vaccinations

Confusion in Prince George’s County over COVID-19 vaccinations

Prince George's Executive Angela Alsobrooks and Health Director Dr. Earnest Carter are apologizing after people were able to sign-up and get vaccinated who do not work or live in the county.

PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - Prince George’s County is clamping down on accessibility to the coronavirus vaccine after non-residents traveled into the county last week.

County Executive Angela Alsobrooks issued an advisory over the weekend indicating that health officials were removing recipients who do not fall into the county’s 1A or 1B priority category, and replacing them with vulnerable county residents, and those who work there.

"This process has freed up several hundred new appointments per day, and our Health Department has extended appointment links to qualified individuals," Alsobrooks said in a statement.

In addition, the county executive said that the health department has closed accessibility to non-county residents, and they’re trying to provide the vaccine to 1C residents as appointments become available.

Prince Georges County barring non residents from getting vaccines

After people from outside of Prince George's County swamped vaccination centers last week, officials are tightening restrictions on who can or can't obtain the vaccine in the county.

On Thursday last week, 859 people were vaccinated at the Sports and Learning Complex. Only 55 percent were county residents.

One-third of those non-county residents were Phase 1A, which does allow people to get vaccinated in the county they work, but the rest had no ties to Prince George’s County.

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The Maryland Department of Health shared the following statement with FOX 5 on Monday:

"Each county is allotted weekly doses to use in their phases, and we encourage each county to get as many shots into as many Marylanders’ arms as possible, including those who reside in other counties. Local jurisdictions also have the flexibility to move to subsequent priority groups; however, elderly and the most vulnerable must be prioritized.

Right now, the federal government is only giving us 10,000 doses a day for the 2 million people who are currently eligible.

Public demand for COVID-19 vaccines exceeds the current supply Maryland receives from the federal government. Due to the limited supply, not everyone will be able to get vaccinated right away. While supply will increase in the weeks and months to come, Marylanders are urged to remain patient until they are eligible to get vaccinated."

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