Maryland will steer $164 million in extra funding to 25 hospitals in the state to help them grapple with an especially bad flu season that has sent thousands to emergency rooms, Gov. Wes Moore announced Thursday.

The money could be used to hire extra staff and handle costs associated with treating the patients for flu and other respiratory viruses, such as COVID-19 and RSV.

“As cases of respiratory illnesses surge across Maryland, we must step up to ensure health care professionals have the resources they need to treat patients and that our people can receive the care they need,” Moore said during a news conference held with other state officials and medical workers at the University of Maryland Capital Region Medical Center in Prince George’s County.

“At the same time, our administration will continue to protect access to lifesaving vaccines and make clear that public health decisions in Maryland are made by medical professionals and guided by proven evidence — not political decisions,” the governor added.

More than 4,200 have been hospitalized in Maryland for flu so far this season, and another 1,000 for COVID and hundreds for RSV. Officials noted that the latest wave appears to have peaked, but there could be another wave before the season concludes in the spring. Even those who have been sickened could catch another strain, and they urged people to get vaccinated if they haven’t — and the majority have not.

About 44.2% of children and 45.5% of adults report having been vaccinated against the flu this season, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The funding infusion will come from a bump in the rates hospitals charge all their patients for care, rather than the state budget. The mechanism was approved recently by state regulators who manage hospital budgets and rates under a special arrangement with federal authorities.

The move comes on the heels of other state actions to boost availability of vaccines, including an order to insurers to pay for vaccines; authority for pharmacists to offer flu and COVID vaccines to all of those ages 3 and older; and free vaccines for under- and uninsured adults through local health departments. Low-income children can already get no-cost vaccinations.

Moore has also requested state legislation this year to give authority to the state health secretary to issue her own guidance on vaccines that are in line with major medical associations, rather than the Trump administration. That proposed change comes after the administration in Washington recently stopped recommending flu, COVID and hepatitis B vaccines to all children.

The move was heavily criticized by the governor and his health secretary, who continues to issue guidance to providers to keep offering all the vaccines.

“Vaccines continue to be the most effective way to protect against severe illness, including the several current circulating strains of the flu, which can be serious for anyone and especially dangerous for infants and older adults,” Dr. Meena Seshamani, the state’s health secretary, said.

Nina Zivkovic, a Pennsylvania resident who works as a surgical assistant coordinator at Northwest Hospital in Randallstown, said watching sick kids come into the hospital is tough. That hits especially hard when they could have had a vaccine to prevent or minimize the infection, she said.

In an interview before the Thursday news event, Zivkovic, who is also the mother of a premature baby, said she always got her vaccines to protect herself, as well as patients in the hospital. But she said more people need to be considerate of vulnerable people in the community.

Babies can’t be vaccinated for the flu until they are 6 months old, and elderly people and those with underlying health conditions have less robust immune systems even with vaccinations. Vaccinations for women who are pregnant can convey antibodies to newborns.

Her new daughter, Vidosava Douglas Zivkovic, called “Vida” by her family, is doing well, putting on weight in the Sinai Hospital neonatal intensive care unit. Zivovic calls her “our heart and soul.”

“I think it’s hard to express what it means to think about someone other than yourself,” she said.

“That’s what getting vaccinated is,” she said. “There’s a lot of controversy out there around vaccines, but there is also a lot of data out there showing vaccines work. People shouldn’t die from things that can be prevented.”