The day after Gov. Larry Hogan offered state employees money as an incentive to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman unveiled his own plan.

Pittman, worried that vaccination rates have dropped in his county, said he would direct more than $700,000 to community organizations to canvass neighborhoods with the lowest vaccination rates to try to convince people to get vaccinated.

“The organizations that we have selected are trusted in the community,” he said. “And we'll be doing a lot of hard work in the coming weeks to increase our vaccination rates. in those zip codes in particular.”

Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, the county health officer, said they would target Black, brown and low income communities as well as the elderly.

“Those are the folks who've been hit hardest during this pandemic and have also lagged for any number of reasons in terms of vaccinations,” he said. “And so access is really the key to making sure that we are getting vaccines into their arms.”

Pittman also announced the health department and county school system are teaming up to make vaccines available to high school students.

They have scheduled clinics at 12 county high schools on three consecutive Wednesdays beginning May 12.