State, local leaders tour new mass vaccination site in Montgomery County
Credit: MDVM, Randi Bass
GERMANTOWN, Md. (WDVM) — Leaders from Montgomery County and the state of Maryland came together on Wednesday for a tour of the new mass vaccination site at Montgomery College in Germantown.
Montgomery County leaders and state officials are known for not always seeing eye to eye when it comes to handling and responding to the pandemic.
Wednesday’s visit comes after months of back and forth between county and state leadership about this site. State resources are now moving into the Germantown site, and it officially becomes a state mass vaccination site on Thursday.
After touring the site Wednesday, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D) said there are a few things he and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) can agree on.
“There are things we are totally united on, one of which is people need to get vaccinated. This is just a symbol of the kind of cooperation that we’re able to create and in this joint fight to end the COVID virus and get us back to some semblance of normalcy,” said Elrich.
“We’re very happy to be able to have this mass vax site here at Montgomery College. I think it’s going to go a long way to help get more folks in Montgomery County vaccinated,” said Gov. Hogan.
In his remarks, Maryland Congressman David Trone (D) also echoed the message of unity.
“This is a real team effort here. One party. One team. Team Maryland,” said Rep. Trone.
Right now, the state is allowing walk-up vaccinations in Hagerstown and Salisbury, but that’s not happening at the Germantown site yet. County leaders say they’d like to see it happen at the Germantown site sometime in the next several weeks.
Germantown was the Governor’s second stop of the day. He went to the new FEMA mass vaccination site just a few miles past Montgomery County’s eastern border at the Greenbelt Metro Station earlier Wednesday.
