Baltimore City Health Department Partners With St. Agnes Hospital To Offer Vaccinations For Ages 12 And Up
BALTIMORE (WJZ) –- The Baltimore City Health Department partnered with Ascension St. Agnes Friday to offer vaccinations at Digital Harbor High School for people aged 12 and up.
"Being 14, I spent a lot of time on the Internet so I see all the rumors, I guess you could call them—all the conspiracy theories," Adam Rather said following his first dose.
Adam's father Dave is happy three of his four kids now have gotten fully or partially vaccinated.
"Hopefully, we all get vaccinated and we put this thing behind us," Dave Rather said.
The clinic comes a day after the CDC released new guidance that fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear masks indoors or outdoors except on airlines, public transportation, in hospitals, doctor's offices, nursing homes, prisons, and homeless shelters.
Many public health officials remind the public there are still many people unvaccinated or not yet eligible (children under 12) for a vaccine.
"Vaccines are incredibly effective, but wearing a mask at this point is also a personal decision about your own situation," Dr. Brian Garibaldi of Johns Hopkins Medicine said.
Pediatric Emergency Physician Dr. Donald Jenkins said while older people have been disproportionately affected by the virus, many kids have gotten severely sick.
"We've seen some kids with asthma who had a hard hit with COVID who had to go to the PICU or be admitted," Dr. Jenkins said.
The Maryland Department of Health reported the fewest number of hospitalizations since November on Friday. Many officials solely credit the vaccination effort.
"There's no doubt in my mind that part of that decline is due to all the Marylanders going out there and getting vaccines," Assistant Secretary of Health Bryan Mroz said Thursday.