For months, a tucked-away, nondescript building on Rocky Springs Road has served as a de facto hub for Frederick Countyâs COVID-19 response.
The Scott Key Center functioned primarily as a career resource center for people with developmental disabilities until June. Thatâs when the Frederick County Health Department moved in and repurposed the space to assist in the battle against the novel coronavirus.
At first, there were rows of floor-to-ceiling shelving that provided air-conditioned storage for personal protective equipment, or PPE.
The PPE was being stored in a non-air conditioned warehouse in the county, and when temperatures neared 100 degrees, âIt was awful,â said Dr. Randall Culpepper, the deputy health officer for Frederick County.
Frederick Health Hospital will receive and store nearly 1,000 coronavirus vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech in the coming days, a hospital spokeswoman said Monday.
Kelsey Shupe, director of marketing and communications of Frederick Health Hospital, wrote in an email the hospital will receive roughly 975 vaccines, but â[does] not have an exact delivery date from Pfizer at this time. However, as soon as we receive the vaccines, we are prepared to act quickly, making the vaccine available to our frontline staff as soon as possible.â
The vaccine is a two-step process, with the first dose being administered in the arm and the second being administered about three weeks after, also in the arm, said Shupe and Dr. Randall Culpepper, the county health departmentâs deputy health officer and medical officer.