People waiting in line to get vaccinated at the First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Upper Marlboro, Md., last month.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times
The path to quickly vaccinating the nation’s 250 million adults will be paved with pharmacy chains, hospitals and hulking stadiums where uniformed troops help inoculate thousands of people a day.
But it will also rely on the recreation center at the First Baptist Church of Glenardenhere, along with tiny storefront service organizations and vaccine-stocked vans that scour neighborhoods for the unprotected.
Maryland offers a microcosm of the issues states face as they rush to open enough vaccination sites to meet President Biden’s goal of making every adult eligible for Covid-19 shots by May 1. It has encountered nearly all the geographic, demographic and human behavioral challenges that come with a public health task of this scale.
