Baltimore City is contracting with a downtown health clinic to offer free monkeypox vaccines. Nomi Health was awarded a contract worth about $1 million to vaccinate 800 city residents who have already registered for a monkeypox vaccine at its clinic located at 419 West Baltimore Street. The city previously contracted with Nomi Health to administer COVID-19 vaccines.
Baltimore City officials said that it’s the next step in their public health strategy.
“We're now at the stage where we're able to redistribute the vaccine to partners,” said Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, Baltimore City’s Health Commissioner and a pediatrician.
For months, the city focused on one-time vaccination events and administering the vaccine to high-risk individuals. The partnership expands the city’s capacity to reach more residents seeking the vaccine, Dzirasa said.
Monkeypox is a virus that spreads between people through direct contact with skin lesions. Symptoms may include a fever, body aches, chills, fatigue and potentially rashes and lesions on the face and hands. Some people may require hospitalization but most recover within a month.
Baltimore City accounts for about one-third of cases statewide with 225 confirmed cases between June and October.
But the numbers are trending in the right direction, Dzirasa said.
“The good news is that we've certainly seen a slowdown in the number of new cases over the past few weeks, and I think a lot of that is attributable to prevention,” she said.
Baltimore is still advising people to avoid public areas if they are experiencing flu-like symptoms, to not share towels or utensils and to stay away from people if you are experiencing a rash.
At the beginning of the crisis, vaccines were few and far between for many Maryland residents. However, federal supplies have increased and a special way to vaccinate individuals into the skin rather than under the skin stretches how many shots can be administered from each vial.
“We might now be able to vaccinate five individuals, which completely changes our parameters of how many vials we would need in order to vaccinate a certain number of people,” Peter DeMartino, the director of the Maryland Infectious Disease Prevention and Health Services Bureau previously told WYPR.
