D.C. will open up COVID-19 vaccination appointments to certain workers, including grocery store employees, starting Thursday.
Mayor Muriel Bowser and D.C. Health made the announcement Wednesday evening. The new groups eligible for vaccinations are:
- Grocery store workers, including those who work at larger chain stores and superstores, and those who work at smaller businesses that sell food, such as convenience stores, neighborhood markets, bodegas and delis;
- Health and human services and social services outreach workers;
- Those who work in manufacturing;
- and those who work in food packaging, such as Food & Friends and other similar facilities.
At 6 p.m. Thursday, about 2,450 appointments will be available for residents to register for who live in priority ZIP codes and are age 65 or older, and/or members of the newly eligible workforce groups. Workers would book appointments based on whether they live in a priority ZIP code, not the location of their store or workplace.
Priority ZIP codes are focused in Wards 5, 7 and 8, and include 20422, 20011, 20017, 20018, 20002, 20001, 20019, 20020, 20032, 20593.
Those areas are targeted because, according to D.C., “they have the lowest percentages of residents who are 65 and older who have received at least one dose of the vaccine.” They also include areas of D.C. where residents are disproportionately affected by COVID-19.
Then, at 6 p.m. Friday, another 2,450 appointments will be available for eligible residents in any D.C. ZIP code.
Going forward, appointments will become available on an alternating weekly schedule: one week, appointments will be available at 6 p.m. on Thursdays and Fridays, and then the following week, they’ll be available at 9 a.m. on Thursdays and Fridays.
Sign up online at coronavirus.dc.gov/vaccinatedc or call 1-855-363-0333. You must be 18 years old or older to use the online portal.
Beginning on Thursday, February 18, individuals who work in a grocery store setting, health and human services and social services outreach, manufacturing, and food packaging will become eligible to book vaccination appointments through https://t.co/BmyOxFg0Qx or the Call Center. pic.twitter.com/rp3XcNFnI4
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) February 17, 2021
D.C. said more than 200 call-takers will be available to help on Thursday evening and through Friday. A set number of appointments will be for residents who are only able to book by phone.
When appointments are made available at 6 p.m., the call center stays open until 8 p.m.
So far, these are the eligible groups for COVID-19 vaccination in D.C.:
- Health care workers;
- D.C. Fire and EMS members;
- Residents of long-term and intermediate care facilities, and residents of community residential facilities/group homes;
- D.C. residents age 65 and older;
- People experiencing homelessness;
- Members of the D.C. police;
- Continuity of D.C. government personnel;
- Department of Corrections employees and residents;
- D.C. teachers and staff involved in in-person teaching at a traditional or public charter school;
- Child care workers and teachers and staff at independent schools in D.C.;
- and then also the newly eligible workers mentioned earlier in the story.
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Looking for more information? D.C., Maryland and Virginia are each releasing more data every day. Visit their official sites here: Virginia | Maryland | D.C.
