Baltimore City residents can now complete a COVID-19 vaccine interest form, which city officials will use to contact them as the availability of vaccine doses increase and eligibility expands to more groups.
The move comes after the Maryland Department of Health announced that all Marylanders age 16 or older will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine by April 27.
“We encourage every city resident with access to the internet to begin pre-registering for the vaccine now,” Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa said Friday.
The city already had vaccine interest forms for people age 60 and older and people who have intellectual or developmental disabilities. All forms are available at bit.ly/bmorecovaxinterest.
People who do not have internet access can call the Maryland Access Point at 410-396-2273, where a staff member will fill out the form on their behalf.
Dzirasa said the Baltimore City Health Department is following the Maryland Department of Health’s guidelines for vaccine prioritization, and that filling out an interest form does not guarantee a person will be vaccinated before others.
“I’d like to be very clear: this list is not necessarily first come, first served,” she said. “We continue to have a focus on equity and vaccination of high risk individuals with the limited supply of vaccines that we have.”
Dzirasa on Friday also announced that Baltimore City and its partners will be ramping up mobile vaccine operations.
Rite Aid, Ascension St. Agnes and the University of Maryland Medical System will begin mobile vaccine operations starting next week.
Also next week, the Baltimore City Health Department will hold first-dose mobile vaccine clinics for older adults at:
- Lillian Jones Apartments (Sandtown-Winchester, West Baltimore)
- Lanvale Towers (Oliver, East Baltimore)
- Bel Park Towers (Arlington, Northwest Baltimore)
- The Greens at Irvington Mews (Irvington, Southwest Baltimore)
- Wyman House Apartments (Charles Village, North-Central Baltimore)
The health department will return next week for second dose clinics at:
- Christ Church Harbor Apartments (Otterbein, South Baltimore)
- Linden Park Apartments (Bolton Hill, West Baltimore)
- Bernard E. Mason Apartments (Wakefield, West Baltimore)
Baltimore City Health Department teams and partners will also be vaccinating people experiencing homelessness at:
- Helping Up Mission (Jonestown, Downtown Baltimore)
- Greenspring (Northwest Baltimore)
- Tuerk House (Mosher, West Baltimore)
- The Baltimore Station (South Baltimore)
Baltimore officials in January announced that they would be striving to vaccinate 80% of city residents by early 2022. That goal excludes the approximately 20% of city residents who are children and who are not yet approved to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, Dzirasa said.
Mayor Brandon Scott’s latest executive order easing COVID-19 restrictions on businesses went into effect at 6 a.m. Friday. In addition to raising the allowed capacity of several types of business and other places, the order also decreases the period of time between reevaluating restrictions from every four weeks to every two weeks.
Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa reported that the city’s seven-day average new case count has increased 100% from four weeks ago and the seven-day average positivity rate has increased 88% in that same period.
Asked why restrictions were eased today despite those and other metrics rising, Scott said the city is continuing to analyze data within a specific timeframe, and will not deviate based on day-to-day changes in data.
“If that data, as we get to our next point, says that we need to put more stringent restrictions on, you know I will not hesitate in doing that. But we set a time out there, we analyze that data, and we know it’s going to continuously move,” he said.
Dzirasa said the health department has been using geolocation reports from city residents’ mobile devices to estimate social distancing during the pandemic.
Since late February, the city has seen an increase in travel, which Dzirasa said has contributed to community transmission and the increased rate of new cases.
Scott and Dzirasa both urged Baltimoreans to continue adhering to guidance for limiting the spread of COVID-19, including wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, avoiding large gatherings, washing hands, staying home if you do not feel well, and getting tested if you have symptoms of COVID-19 or have been exposed to someone who has tested positive or is experiencing symptoms.
“Now is not the time to act irresponsibly,” Scott said. “That light is coming, but we have to walk cautious towards that light at the end of the tunnel.”
Dzirasa said that people are fully vaccinated two weeks after getting the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine, or after receiving their second dose of a two-dose vaccine from Pfizer or Moderna.
Fully vaccinated individuals may interact without masks with others who are fully vaccinated, or with one household that is not fully vaccinated and does not include members who are considered high-risk, Dzirasa added.
“This period may be the most challenging we’ve been in so far, with more than a year of mask wearing, of social distancing, and of not seeing our loved ones. But we’re not in the clear yet, and it would be foolish to throw away all of our progress when we’re so close to ending the pandemic,” she said.
