Former Twisted Sister Stagehand Now Running COVID Vaccine Sites

Onetime Twisted Sister production assistant Terry Sapp worked with the Dee Snider-fronted rockers for 12 years, from 2004 until their final tour in 2016. Now, he's coordinating Baltimore's COVID-19 vaccination response as the public health emergency coordinator for Baltimore County, Md.

As one might expect, Sapp's experience in facilitating aspects of large concerts and world tours helps inform his work in the vaccine rollout. That includes putting his feet on the ground with around 150 other government personnel at a vaccination site at the county's Maryland State Fairgrounds.

"Running something like this, running a large-scale music event or even a concert — the similarities are all there," Sapp recently told The Baltimore Sun in an article about the city's vaccination drives.

In addition to his time with Twisted Sister, Sapp also spent decades "training and coordinating emergency preparedness at the state and local levels," the paper reported. "But he credits much of his skill to his years on tour with Twisted Sister across 20 countries … working his way from blogger to production assistant, and as a stage manager for local 1980s cover band The Reagan Years."

The state fairgrounds site, in Timonium, Md., is inoculating around 2,800 people a day while expending "close to zero waste," Sapp explained. And the numbers are adding up: More than 66,500 people have now gotten their second COVID-19 vaccine dose in Baltimore County. To that end, the densely populated jurisdiction is outpacing most of the state in administering shots.

It just goes to show that concert crew's experience in cargo handling, staging and logistics can prove quite beneficial when it comes to aiding the country's vaccination goals. (And if you're getting the shot at the Maryland fairgrounds, be on the lookout for Terry's Twisted Sister tattoo.)

In a farewell blog Sapp posted on the official Twisted Sister site in 2016, he wrote that the band "gave it everything they had, every single show, every single time. It didn't matter if there were technical problems, horrible weather or sheer exhaustion from being up for 72 hours — our boys in pink and black left everything they had on that stage."

It seems that same sense of dedication and professionalism has carried over with Sapp to his new job.

To find COVID-19 vaccination sites, go to the CDC's Vaccination Locations and VaccineFinder website.