The leaders of D.C., Maryland and Virginia are asking the federal government to set aside COVID-19 vaccines, supplies and sites for federal workers and contractors, as well as Metro workers.
The letter from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is asking Norris Cochran, the acting secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, and Robert Fenton, the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, for “a dedicated allocation” of COVID-19 vaccines and supplies for workers and contractors in the National Capital Region, as well as a federally supported and operated vaccination site for those workers and a messaging campaign about getting vaccinated.
They’re asking the federal government to “directly supply and distribute COVID-19 vaccinations to individuals in our jurisdictions for whom the federal government has direct and sole responsibility.” That includes federal workers and those in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, the letter said.
Pointing out that there are about 281,000 federal workers in the area, and that about 30,000 workers, contractors and Metro employees have been deemed essential, the letter reads: “The District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia simply do not have the resources available to support these priority vaccinations, due to the additional burden on local resources that this mission would require — especially when considering the amount of vaccine each state receives.”
As Hogan toured a vaccine site in Baltimore County earlier Wednesday, he said the move was coming — and overdue.
“Here’s how crazy it is,” Hogan said then, “We had NIH and the FDA call me directly to beg for vaccines, because the federal government hasn’t provided them, and they’re Marylanders who live in Maryland, and they’re in critical fields that are helping protect everyone else and they don’t have any vaccine. That just doesn’t make sense.”
WTOP’s Jack Moore contributed to this report.
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