What You Need to Know About The COVID-19 Vaccine in Montgomery County
By Adelaide Keller
By Adelaide Keller
In the United States there is a lot of confusion about when people will get the vaccine and how it works. This article is specifically about the vaccine distribution in Montgomery County, Maryland. You can refer to the Montgomery County COVID-19 Vaccine web page for further information: https://montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/vaccine/.
Who Gets The Vaccine & When
Montgomery County has split the distribution of the vaccine into three different phases. In Phase 1 there are three different sub-groups which are: Group 1A: frontline health care workers, staff and residents of nursing homes, and first responders, Group 1B: residents age 75 and older and frontline essential workers, and Group 1C: residents over the age of 65 and those with underlying health conditions. Those in Phase 2 are people with critical infrastructure roles, and then Phase 3 is the general population. The county says they plan to have finished vaccinating Group 1A (which the county estimates is composed of 30,000-40,000 people) by the end of January 2021, and expect to start Group 1B in February. The general public will probably not have access to the vaccine until late 2021.
How It Will Be Distributed
County staff are vaccinating frontline health care workers and first responders. The state of Maryland is providing vaccines for hospitals, so they can vaccinate their staff, and because of a federal contract, CVS and Walgreens are providing vaccines for nursing home staff and residents. When you are notified by the county that you are eligible for a vaccine you will be given a link to a place to schedule your appointment, and a list of county clinics and the times they are open. Depending on the abundance of the supply, private physicians and pharmacies may also soon be able to request vaccines to distribute.
How It Works
The vaccines that have been approved by the FDA are mRNA vaccines, meaning that they won’t inject the live virus in you. Instead, the vaccine will instruct our cells on how to make something called the “spike protein”, which is found on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19. Our immune system will immediately recognize the protein and realize that it doesn’t belong in our bodies, immediately creating antibodies against it. This process is similar to what would happen in a natural infection of COVID-19.
Why You Should Get It
You should get the vaccine because it can protect you and those around you from getting the disease. Symptoms of the disease vary, from being mild to severe, even sometimes causing death, so this vaccine is an important life saver. You don’t need to worry about the cost - most insurance companies will cover it for you, and if you don’t have insurance Montgomery County will pay the expenses.
Not everything has been clear about the distribution of the vaccine, but one thing is certain - as soon as it is available to you, you should get it.
Sources Used
Montgomery County Government - COVID-19 Vaccine: https://montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/vaccine/
Who Gets The Vaccine & When
Montgomery County has split the distribution of the vaccine into three different phases. In Phase 1 there are three different sub-groups which are: Group 1A: frontline health care workers, staff and residents of nursing homes, and first responders, Group 1B: residents age 75 and older and frontline essential workers, and Group 1C: residents over the age of 65 and those with underlying health conditions. Those in Phase 2 are people with critical infrastructure roles, and then Phase 3 is the general population. The county says they plan to have finished vaccinating Group 1A (which the county estimates is composed of 30,000-40,000 people) by the end of January 2021, and expect to start Group 1B in February. The general public will probably not have access to the vaccine until late 2021.
How It Will Be Distributed
County staff are vaccinating frontline health care workers and first responders. The state of Maryland is providing vaccines for hospitals, so they can vaccinate their staff, and because of a federal contract, CVS and Walgreens are providing vaccines for nursing home staff and residents. When you are notified by the county that you are eligible for a vaccine you will be given a link to a place to schedule your appointment, and a list of county clinics and the times they are open. Depending on the abundance of the supply, private physicians and pharmacies may also soon be able to request vaccines to distribute.
How It Works
The vaccines that have been approved by the FDA are mRNA vaccines, meaning that they won’t inject the live virus in you. Instead, the vaccine will instruct our cells on how to make something called the “spike protein”, which is found on the surface of the virus that causes COVID-19. Our immune system will immediately recognize the protein and realize that it doesn’t belong in our bodies, immediately creating antibodies against it. This process is similar to what would happen in a natural infection of COVID-19.
Why You Should Get It
You should get the vaccine because it can protect you and those around you from getting the disease. Symptoms of the disease vary, from being mild to severe, even sometimes causing death, so this vaccine is an important life saver. You don’t need to worry about the cost - most insurance companies will cover it for you, and if you don’t have insurance Montgomery County will pay the expenses.
Not everything has been clear about the distribution of the vaccine, but one thing is certain - as soon as it is available to you, you should get it.
Sources Used
Montgomery County Government - COVID-19 Vaccine: https://montgomerycountymd.gov/covid19/vaccine/