The state health department says more than 725,000 people in Maryland had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine by Monday morning. That’s a little more than 12 percent of the state’s population.
Yet as the list of groups eligible to get shots has grown, so have frustration levels among those trying to secure an appointment. Here’s a look at what the wait and the aftermath feel like from some of those Marylanders who have gotten their shots and those who are still waiting.
Gregory Terry, a nurse at Medstar Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore, was hesitant about the vaccine at first, but now he uses his status as a platform to address others in the African American community who may be wary of the vaccine.
“I think it’s important that the African American community hears it from other African Americans in health care specifically, that hey, it’s okay,” he said.
Zackary Berger says he felt some guilt about getting the vaccine early. As a doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospital and staff physician at the Esperanza Center health clinic caring for undocumented Spanish-speaking patients, he says he wants to see improvement in the overall system.
“I do feel a sense of determination to help with vaccine distribution, in an advocacy role and a desire to see things distributed more equitably,” he said.
Berger wants to use his position to call out a system that he says is not functioning as it should.
He says he would tell people, “I’m getting vaccinated, so let’s make this that other groups can have this experience, and we’re going to have to change things to make that possible.”
