District residents can now pre-register for monkeypox vaccination appointments online, DC Health said Tuesday.
According to the agency, individuals who have pre-registered will get an email invitation to make an appointment once they’re available.
Those eligible for the vaccination must be:
- A D.C. resident 18 or older, and
- Gay, bisexual, and other men 18 and older who have sex with men and have had multiple (more than one) sexual partners or any anonymous sexual partners in the last 14 days; or
- Transgender women or nonbinary persons assigned male at birth who have sex with men; or
- Sex workers (of any sexual orientation/gender); or
- Staff (of any sexual orientation/gender) at establishments where sexual activity occurs (e.g., bathhouses, saunas, sex clubs).
DC Health said residents will have 48 hours to claim their appointment. Approximately 3,000 appointments will become available Thursday.
If you don’t get an appointment invitation this week, you’ll stay in the system until an appointment becomes available.
Residents who don’t meet the vaccine eligibility requirements are still encouraged to pre-register. DC Health said as eligibility expands, people who have already registered will get notified about available appointments.
Proving you’re a D.C. resident can be done with an ID card with a D.C. address, a utility bill or other mail with your name and a D.C. address, or a current D.C. lease or mortgage with your name on it.
Monkeypox is a potentially serious viral illness, characterized by a specific type of rash.
Symptoms can include fever, headache, muscle aches and backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion and a rash that can look like pimples or blisters that appear on the face, inside the mouth, and on other parts of the body.
Visit dchealth.dc.gov/page/monkeypox for more.
