Nursing home residents and staff are among the first in line for the COVID-19 vaccine. But in Maryland, many nursing homes have not used a majority of their allocated doses. 

Joseph DeMattos Jr., the CEO of the Health Facilities Association of Maryland, said that distributing the vaccine is a huge logistical undertaking. 

“We all want to get it out as fast as we can,” he said. “And it's maybe not as easy as it seems, because of the nature of the vaccine.” 

CVS and Walgreens are in charge of distributing the vaccines at nursing homes. Last week, Gov. Larry Hogan said that he spoke with pharmacies to speed up vaccinations and data reporting. 

DeMattos added that while most nursing home residents are eager to get the vaccine, staffs are more reluctant.

“We still need to convince many of our workforce across all settings on the need to take the vaccine,” he said. 

DeMattos said he expects the vaccination process will be more efficient in the coming weeks.