Maryland opens M&T Bank Stadium COVID-19 mass vaccination site, offering 250 doses on first day

Mahua Deb said she was the first to get a vaccine at the stadium on the mass vaccination clinic’s first day. It was also her first visit to the football stadium.

Deb, 43, a Food and Drug Administration consumer safety officer who lives in Ellicott City, moved from Michigan last year.

“The pandemic started so we didn’t get to explore Maryland that much,” she said.

Deb described an organized identification check, vaccination and post-shot observation process. She showed up early and was finished more than a half-hour before her appointment.

”Everything was very, very organized,” Deb said. “I would encourage people to come. ... There’s a lot of hard workers there.”

The stadium site offers walk-up vaccine registrations, although not same-day shots, for people who don’t have computers or are otherwise having difficulty getting appointments. To request an appointment, call 855-MD-GoVAX (855-634-6829).

Hogan said the stadium, which has a light rail stop, will improve access for people who don’t have a car — part of the state’s efforts to make the rollout more equitable amid a significant race disparity in the state’s initial vaccinations. White Marylanders are receiving four times as many vaccines as Black residents, according to the latest data released by the state.

But the governor noted that it is the state’s second mass vaccination site in the city. The other two state-run sites are at the nearby Baltimore Convention Center downtown and Six Flags America in Prince George’s County.

”As of last week, Baltimore City had gotten far more than they were really entitled to,” Hogan said.

After parking in Lot C, people with appointments passed under the massive “VACCINATION SITE” banner at the RavensWalk and proceeded to the check-in tent just inside Gate A.

Don and Eileen Kunkoski, who live in Reisterstown, had been on four separate lists for other vaccination sites since mid-January without getting an appointment.

They managed to schedule appointments for Monday at the stadium after waiting two hours on the phone.

Don Kunkoski, 77, who is retired from the Environmental Protection Agency, came to check out the site’s accessibility in advance of the appointment for Eileen, 74, who he said doesn’t get around well.

He was impressed by the separate, accessible entrance and exit with an elevator at the Northwest Suite Entrance. Others took the escalator and the steps, entering at Gate A and exiting at the Northeast Suite Entrance.

”They’re ready to go,” Kunkoski said. “It looks very well organized.”

Banners between the Johnny Unitas and Ray Lewis statues instructed people to notify staff of any symptoms in the past 48 hours, any exposure or concerns about exposure, and any pending COVID-19 tests.

Carol and Rob Vatalaro, both 72, who live in Columbia, thought the process required more identification checks than necessary, given that they already had appointments. They checked in online, then at the tent at Gate A, then a third time on the club level.

“Other than that, it was fine. They were very organized,” Carol Vatalaro said. “They had the stations set up all around this big bar. I said, ‘Well, where’s the beer and wine?’”

The University of Maryland Medical System, which is running the site for the state, has plenty of staff on hand, said Rob Vatalaro, a retired National Security Agency engineer.

“They’re just overrunning with people,” he said.

He wore a sailboat mask and an “I GOT VACCINATED” sticker on his coat. The Vatalaros got their appointments over the phone Monday, the first day they became available at the stadium. They’d tried unsuccessfully to get vaccines at several other clinics, he said.

“I waited for Monday morning, and I just got lucky,” he said. “I did it on the phone. The computers weren’t working.”

Dr. Mohan Suntha, president and CEO of the University of Maryland Medical System, said the stadium vaccination site represented the “latest example of partnership” between the state and the regional hospital system.

“This is a step in a big process to ensure we create solutions that allow for our communities to be vaccinated,” he said. “We are excited to get this launched.”

The site is aiming to schedule 2,000 appointments per day beginning next Thursday, said Lt. Col. Charles Wetzelberger, deputy site coordinator with the Maryland Air National Guard, who supervises the guardsmen who helped set it up.

You can’t see the field from where you sit for a shot, said Wetzelberger, who is a Ravens season ticket holder. But the clinic has a “cool vibe,” especially for people who haven’t seen the club level before, he said.

”It was a barren club section in a stadium that hasn’t been used in a year [except for] a smattering of fans,” Wetzelberger said. “We were able to transform this into a mass vax site.”

During his tour Thursday, Hogan said he thought the club-level clinic looked beautiful.

”It looks like you’re there to watch a Ravens game,” Hogan said. “I said I was a little disappointed you couldn’t get a hot dog and a beer, but they’re doing a great job of getting vaccines done.”

Baltimore Sun reporter Hallie Miller contributed to this article.