Baltimore, MD – On Thursday, the Maryland Department of Health (MDH) launched the Maryland Statewide Human Monkeypox (MPX) Vaccination Pre-Registration System. The site allows City residents to sign up to be notified when a MPX vaccine opportunity becomes available.

The pre-registration page allows the Baltimore City Health Department (BCHD) to screen residents for eligibility and match them with available MPX vaccine doses. The new site expands BCHD’s ability to meet the growing demand for an extremely limited number of vaccine doses and appointments in Baltimore.

To pre-register:

• Fill out the form
• Be sure to include an email/phone number that you check regularly
• When you receive an appointment email, reserve one of the available slots
• The link to make an appointment can only be used one time, and cannot be forwarded

MDH’s registration site is a welcome addition to BCHD’s toolkit. BCHD is already playing a central role in administering and coordinating ongoing MPX vaccinations at its clinics and others throughout the City. The agency is also leading efforts to provide MPX testing for residents who believe they’ve been exposed. The pre-registration system affords BCHD the bandwidth to scale up its ability to screen and schedule vaccine appointments without diverting staff already dedicated to COVID and core public health services.

According to Baltimore City Health Commissioner Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, the agency is working within a well-built public health network to meet the new challenge of distributing MPX vaccine doses to City residents that are eligible for ePEP (expanded post-exposure prophylaxis, aka proactive vaccination) on an ongoing basis.

“Our internal resources and personnel have been operating at capacity for months now as we address multiple public health emergencies all while continuing to provide core public health services. This partnership with MDH supports a multi-sector strategy to achieve the desired public health outcome– equitably vaccinating the highest risk and most vulnerable residents in Baltimore City as expeditiously as possible,” Commissioner Dzirasa said. “Over the course of the pandemic, BCHD has built a powerful set of relationships with MDH, local providers, our hospital systems, community groups and local businesses to help us respond collaboratively to major threats to public health from Syphilis, to COVID, to Monkeypox.”

Vaccination efforts will continue to expand as more partners and doses become available to stem the outbreak. Residents are now able to track the progression of the outbreak alongside public health experts via a new state MPX dashboard. County case counts under 10 will not be displayed to protect individuals’ privacy.

For more information about MPX, visit health.baltimorecity.gov/mpx. The page features the latest information about the virus, FAQs, guidance for providers, and more.

The Baltimore City Health Department is the oldest continuously-operating health department in the nation. The agency’s mission is to protect health, eliminate disparities, and enhance the wellbeing of everyone in our community through education, coordination, advocacy, and direct service delivery. The agency is led by Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, a pediatrician trained at Johns Hopkins and educated at Meharry Medical College– one of America’s largest, and oldest, HBCU medical schools. She has served in three administrations during her time as Baltimore City Commissioner of Health since her tenure began in March 2019.

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