$10M headed to Anne Arundel for vaccine distribution

Maryland officials announced more than $10 million in funds available to Anne Arundel County to support the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.

The amount comes from a federal pool of $114 million given to the state to buoy vaccination against COVID-19 and efforts to increase vaccination in underserved populations.

The announcement comes the same day a coalition of 21 counties, including Anne Arundel, and Baltimore City sent a letter to Gov. Larry Hogan asking for the Maryland Health Department to expedite the release of $400 million in federal funds to support efforts to stop the pandemic. The letter also asks Hogan to give local jurisdictions more notice on how many vaccines they will get, publish allocations to private providers, prioritize local health departments over private partners and allow all vaccine registration to flow through either the counties or one centralized state system.

The money announced Tuesday will serve to reimburse the county for money spent vaccinating residents and workers and can be applied retroactively to January. Half the funds will be available to use this fiscal year, which ends in June, and the rest will be available the subsequent fiscal year, beginning July 1.

The state, in a letter to the counties, stipulated the Maryland Health Department could recoup any unspent money for its own vaccination efforts.

Gov. Larry Hogan will submit a supplemental budget request to help county health departments that lost money after closing paid clinics, the letter said. The request is subject to approval by the General Assembly.