As weekly vaccine numbers dip, county health department doubles down on education, community partnerships

Jun. 25—When Burkittsville Mayor Deborah Burgoyne learned that her small town's ZIP code had one of the highest vaccination rates in Frederick County, she sounded surprised.

Besides advertising the location of vaccination sites when the shot became available to the general public, Burgoyne couldn't think of anything in particular Burkittsville had done to encourage its 140 residents to get vaccinated. When she thought about it, though, there wasn't anyone she knew who hadn't wanted the shot. Far from it — most couldn't wait to get it, she said.

"It was like, 'Are they 75 and over?' 'What age group are you in?' 'Where can I get it? Can I get a ride?'" she recalled. "We just looked out for each other. That's what everybody did the entire time."

Immunizations in Frederick County have come a long way since Frederick Health Hospital administered its first shot at the end of last year. As of Thursday, 66.7 percent of eligible county residents were fully vaccinated; for people 65 years and older, this number was 87.7 percent.

Likewise, COVID-19 cases and deaths have also dropped off in the county and state — earlier this week, Maryland reported no deaths from the virus for the first time since October.

Despite the county's progress, however, there's been a marked drop in the number of people it vaccinates every week. Vaccinations peaked during the week of March 21, when 10,699 Frederick County residents got their first dose; last week, just 992 residents got the first dose.

After months of coordinating dozens of vaccination events and — at times — running multiple sites at once, the county's health department is faced with a new challenge: Reaching the county residents who are eligible but have yet to get a single shot.

It's a task that has taken a lot of creative and "out-of-the-box thinking," said Danielle Haskin, manager of the county's community COVID-19 testing program. There's no shortage of reasons for why some people haven't gotten immunized against COVID-19, she said, and no population is a monolith. Some undocumented residents are worried they'll be tracked after getting a shot — although no documentation is required at vaccination sites — while others living in the county are worried about how quickly the vaccines were developed or they've had difficulty securing rides to clinics.

No matter the explanation, though, Haskin said the health department does not want to stigmatize those who have yet to get vaccinated. Doing so, she said, will only hurt Frederick County in the long run.

"We don't want to persuade anybody," she said. "We just want to provide them with the information so that they can make the best decision for themselves, for their family, and ultimately, for the entire community."

A closer look at the data

At first glance, Emmitsburg seems to be dead last in Frederick County's vaccination race — just 25.3 percent of the 6,833 people living in the ZIP code where the town is located, which includes those who are not yet eligible because they are too young, were vaccinated as of Wednesday, according to state data.

But Haskin says there's a possible explanation for the low vaccination rate in 21727 — its close proximity to the Pennsylvania border. Maryland doesn't have a data sharing agreement with its neighboring state, Haskin said, meaning those who traveled to nearby Gettysburg to get vaccinated aren't counted among the county's vaccinated population.

However, national data shows that rural communities like Emmitsburg tend to have lower vaccination rates than urban areas. According to a report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adult COVID-19 vaccination coverage averaged 38.9 percent in rural counties compared to 45.7 percent in urban counties between the last month of 2020 and April 2021.

In Frederick County, that's true even of towns that don't share a border with the Keystone State or Virginia; 43.3 percent of Thurmont's total population was fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, more than 10 percentage points lower than the county's overall rate.

On Wednesday, Thurmont Mayor John Kinnaird said some of the town's 11,563 residents may have trouble traveling to large population hubs in the county, like Frederick, which is a 25-minute drive from Thurmont and hosts a regular vaccination site at 800 Oak St. Seniors especially have transportation difficulties, Kinnaird said, and they may be limited to traveling when they can get rides from their children or other family members or friends.

As of last Friday, however, the town has its own weekly vaccination site at its municipal building — the same place where it has long hosted COVID-19 testing. Kinnaird expressed excitement about the new site, which he said will also give a closer immunization opportunity for people living in the rural communities surrounding Thurmont.

Emmitsburg Mayor Don Briggs said his town has done all it can to encourage residents to get vaccinated, including partnering with the county on multiple occasions to bring community vaccination clinics to the area. For months, Briggs also shared weekly updates on the town's response to the virus, which his staff posted on YouTube.

However, Briggs said some residents still have concerns about the vaccine. He's talked to some young women who worry getting the shot will affect their chances of getting pregnant (the CDC says there's no evidence it will) and others who are anxious about how quickly the vaccines were developed.

"I think we've done a very good job," Briggs said, later adding, "We're still at it. We're still trying to inform people, tell them about shots and everything like that."

Partnering with the community

The county's vaccine supply has come a long way since it received its first batch of doses in December; in the immunization program's early days, Frederick County was only getting 1,400 doses per week, Haskin said.

At that point, although the county understood that some people wouldn't be able to travel to large vaccination sites, the county's goal was mass vaccination, said Heidi Keeney, the special assistant to the county executive who is currently managing the county's vaccine program. Now that supply of the vaccine has eclipsed demand in the county, however, Keeney said the health department has been able to shift its focus more toward hosting community clinics and pop-up events.

Haskin and Keeney both credited the partnerships the county's health departments has with community organizations for the success Frederick has had so far in vaccinating its residents. There's something powerful about an already trusted leader sharing public health information with their community, Haskin explained.

"Being able to listen to the community and having the community say what they need and what they're interested in, and then really just supporting them in their efforts has been a success," she said.

Another important aspect of the county's vaccination strategy has been prioritizing transparency and welcoming conversations with residents who are hesitant to get immunized, Keeney said. Over time, she added, as more people know someone who has been vaccinated, those who were once nervous about getting the shot may be more likely to consider it.

She has other reasons to be hopeful, too. Recently, she watched a man walk into a vaccination clinic, shaking his head. He didn't want to be there, she said, but he told her he was getting vaccinated for his kids.

"There are people out there that are not really wanting to be vaccinated even for themselves, but they're doing it for other people," she said. "And I think that's important, too."

Follow Angela Roberts on Twitter: @24_angier