Press Releases

Cancelled: Public Hearing Notice on Board of Health Regulation concerning the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in Montgomery County

For Immediate Release: Monday, March 22, 2021

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 22, 2021—The Montgomery County Council, sitting as the Board of Health, is scheduled to introduce a resolution on a Board of Health regulation on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, concerning the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in the County.  A public hearing and vote will take place on Friday, March 26, 2021, at 1 p.m.

The regulation would require the Montgomery County Health Officer to identify geographic areas by zip code with disproportionately high mortality rates and immediately expand vaccine eligibility to residents aged 60 or older in these high-risk zip codes. In addition, on or by April 13, the regulation would expand access in these areas to residents aged 55 or older and potentially lower the age of eligibility further after consultation with the Director of the Department of Health and Human Services. The full Council is introducing this measure, which was initiated by Councilmembers Jawando, Navarro and Rice.

The deadline to sign up for the public hearing is Thursday, March 25 at 5 p.m. As soon as the Board of Health regulation is available it will be posted on the Council's web page. Residents may sign up to testify starting Tuesday, March 23 at 9 a.m. on the Council’s web page or by clicking here. If you are not available for the public hearing but want to provide testimony to the Council you can do so by submitting written, audio or video testimony here.

More information can be found at the Montgomery County Council's webpage at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/council.

NOTE: During the COVID-19 state of emergency, the public is not able to be physically present in the Council Hearing Room. Residents who would like to call in to testify at a Council public hearing need to preregister on the Council's web page at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/council/calendar.html . Once the public hearing sign up request form is submitted and the public hearing list is created, individuals will receive separate confirmation notifications that include the appropriate phone number to call for the public hearing.

Community members also have the option to provide audio, video and written testimony to the Council using a recently developed online testimony form on the Council's web page which can be found at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COUNCIL/PHSignUp.html. The testimony provided with the online option carries the same weight as testimony given at a public hearing. Councilmembers consider all comments as part of their deliberations.

Comments and suggestions are welcome online at http://tinyurl.com/zrbwh5v; via email at [email protected]; by sending regular mail to County Council, 100 Maryland Ave., Rockville, MD 20850. For information or to express an opinion call 240-777-7900.

The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM) on Xfinity channels 6 and 996, RCN channels 6 and 1056; and FiOS channel 30. Also available live via streaming through the Council website at http://tinyurl.com/z9982v8, Facebook Live (@MontgomeryCountyMdCouncil or @ConcejodelCondadodeMontgomery), or YouTube (@MoCoCouncilMD).

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Release ID: 21-120
Media Contact: Sonya Healy 240-777-7926, Juan Jovel 240-777-7931