Vaccinations now administered at Baltimore Monkeypox clinic as city has third of state's cases

BALTIMORE -- Baltimore City has 225 cases of Monkeypox, which represents about a third of the cases in Maryland, Baltimore City Health Commissioner Letitia Dzirasa reported Tuesday morning.

Dzirasa provided an update on the state of the outbreak and how residents can get vaccination appointments.

The Baltimore City Health Department started vaccinating for the Monkeypox virus in late June.

Since then, they have administered more than 1,230 first-dose vaccinations. And, over the course of two weeks, 175 vials of the Monkeypox vaccine were distributed to Baltimore City clinical partners.

On Tuesday, the city's health department started distributing vaccinations at its newly-launched Monkeypox clinic, in partnership with Nomi Health.

"Today's announcement highlights the additional support for vaccinations as we boost Baltimore's ability to combat the spread of MPX in our community," Dzirasa said.

Those needing vaccinations should register on the Baltimore City Health Department's website.  

"The first rounds of vaccines at this clinic are going to qualify pre-registered residents who signed up on the Maryland Department of Health statewide pre-registration list," Dzirasa said.

Currently, those eligible for the Monkeypox vaccine are people who have had close contact with a Monkeypox case, those with occupational exposure, including those in the healthcare field, self-identified sexual partners of cases within the past two weeks and those with multiple or unknown sexual partners, with priority given to immunocompromised individuals and members of impacted communities.

"The availability to provide testing and vaccination to the population is critical in curbing any infectious diseases," said Sean Arroyo, Vice President of Operations at Nomi Health.

According to the Baltimore City Health Department, Monkeypox can be spread through close, personal or skin-to-skin contact with someone who has Monkeypox.

Symptoms typically begin 7 to 14 days after exposure, but can range up to 21 days.

"We are excited to collaborate with Nomi Health as we scale up our capacity to vaccinate against Monkeypox," Dzirasa said.