Northam teams with Maryland, D.C. counterparts to press for more vaccines for federal employees, shipyards

Dave Ress, The Daily Press
·2 min read
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Gov. Ralph Northam, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser are asking federal officials to do more to support COVID-19 vaccinations for federal employees and essential defense contractors.

Those workers include many in Hampton Roads, said Alena Yarmosky, Northam’s press secretary.

“It will absolutely include Hampton Roads, what we’re thinking about is the shipyards,” she said.

While Newport News Shipbuilding started vaccinated employees last week, the high demand for vaccines meant it did not get another lot this week as it had hoped. The yard is expecting to eventually get enough to vaccinate its entire workforce but it has said supplies may come fairly slowly this month.

In a letter to the acting Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the interim head of the Federal Emergency Management, Northam, Hogan and Bowser asked for more vaccines to protect federal workers, and said the allocation should not come from amounts already set for the two states and the District of Columbia.

“Federal agencies have acted to prioritize certain federal employees, contractors, and ICE detainees. The District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia simply do not have the resources available to support these priority vaccinations,” the three officials wrote.

While the letter refers specifically to federal employees in metropolitan Washington, Yarmosky said the extra vaccines would also be intended for Hampton Roads.

The Navy said there are more than 52,000 civilian employees and contractors on its Hampton Roads installations. That figure does not include the 25,000 men and women who work for Newport News Shipbuilding. There are thousands more at the region’s other shipyards.

In addition to a dedicated supply of vaccines, the three officials asked for a special vaccination site for Washington-area federal workers, essential defense contractors and public transit system employees.

Dave Ress, 757-247-4535, dress@dailypress.com