By Laura Lydic
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
The county is providing free Uber rides to coronavirus vaccination centers for residents who do not have their own transportation, officials announced Friday.
In addition, officials said mobile units will deliver vaccinations to county citizens who are homebound.
“Lack of transportation should never be a barrier for someone to get vaccinated,” Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski said during a press conference Friday. “We have started offering Uber rides to our vaccine clinics for residents who have no other transportation options available.”
Residents who need to use this service can do so by dialing 3-1-1 to be connected with county staff, who will schedule the ride. Once at the vaccination site, on-site staff will assist with scheduling a ride home after the vaccination dose is administered.
Olszewski said the county will soon launch mobile units for physician certified homebound residents. These residents can indicate that they need the service when they register for a vaccine on county’s registration website. Health department officials will reach out to residents to schedule a time to be vaccinated by the mobile units.
“The health department and the fire department will be teaming up to send mobile units with a public health nurse and EMT to those individuals’ homes to administer vaccines,” Olszewski said. “We are asking those residents who are homebound to be patient. Thousands of individuals have already registered indicating that they are homebound, and it will take time to get to everyone.”
The goal of these efforts is to get vaccinations to as many people as possible to bring the pandemic to an end, the county executive said. There has been a drop in cases globally over the past few weeks, he said, but case rates are leveling off.
“I urge everyone to remain vigilant so that we don’t reverse the progress we’ve seen in recent weeks,” Olszewski said. “Let’s continue the good work we’ve been doing so that we can get through this together.”