{"id":6472,"date":"2021-06-16T18:17:13","date_gmt":"2021-06-16T18:17:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/?p=6472"},"modified":"2021-06-17T18:57:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-17T18:57:41","slug":"state-partnerships-reemerge-with-vaccination-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/ng\/2021\/06\/16\/state-partnerships-reemerge-with-vaccination-visit\/","title":{"rendered":"State Partnerships Reemerge with Vaccination Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Article by Spc. Christina Chang, 29th MPAD. Photos by Sgt. Chazz Kibler, 29th MPAD, and Staff Sgt. James Johnson, 58th Expeditionary Military Intelligence Brigade Public Affairs<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Medical and logistical personnel with the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina receive information from a Baltimore Convention Center Field Hospital medical professional during a BCCFH tour in Baltimore, Maryland, on June 10, 2021.<\/sup><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Members of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina met with their medical counterparts in the Maryland National Guard to learn best practices to vaccinate their citizens during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, June 7-11, 2021. During the visit, they learned about the operation of the different types of vaccination sites and mobile vaccination capabilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entities including the military, federal, state, and municipal governments, as well as volunteer and religious organizations, have collaborated to get more people vaccinated in order to combat the COVID-19 pandemic and restore a sense of normalcy. U.S. Army Maj. Harrison Bittenbender is Maryland\u2019s state partnership program director and helped coordinate the collaborative AFBiH visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe sooner we get [the AFBiH] the information about vaccination sites, the more likely they would be able to set up their own vaccination sites quickly and efficiently without making the same mistakes that [the MDNG] did in Maryland,\u201d said Bittenbender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A medical professional explains the post-vaccination observation process to medical and logistical personnel with the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina during a Navy-Marine Corp Memorial Stadium Mass Vaccination Site visit in Annapolis, Maryland, on June 10, 2021. <\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to Bittenbender, the general lack of vaccine doses in the Balkan Region influenced the decision to align Maryland\u2019s SPP training with Bosnia and Herzegovina this year on helping them to develop their COVID-19 response capabilities. Maj. Gen. Timothy Gowen, the adjutant general of  Maryland, will visit the AFBiH in Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of his travels to Europe to discuss military-government partnerships focused on enhancing the COVID-19 response capabilities of European allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Several visiting members of the AFBiH also had the opportunity to personally experience the vaccination process when they received their first COVID-19 vaccine doses at the Maryland Medical Detachment at Camp Fretterd Military Reservation in Reisterstown, Maryland. The personnel toured the facility, learned about the different vaccines available in Maryland, as well as how to handle administrative paperwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n