The City’s recently-launched dashboard shares COVID-19 vaccination data

The City of Baltimore released a digital COVID-19 vaccine dashboard, where the public can track data showing how many residents have received first and second doses of vaccines.

Created in collaboration with the Baltimore City Health Department, the dashboard breaks down vaccination data by age, race, ethnicity, gender and ZIP code.

“This new dashboard gives residents a transparent look into the city’s vaccination efforts in real time,” Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement. “With ongoing concerns regarding the State’s vaccination plan, this dashboard shines a light on Baltimore’s allocations, including where they are going, who they are going to, and what percentage of residents are receiving these doses versus those outside of the city’s jurisdiction.

Because of the dashboard, we know that, as of Wednesday morning, 46,963 people — or 7.9% of the city’s population —have received a first dose of the vaccine. The dashboard lists the number of second doses administered — or fully vaccinated Baltimore residents — at 16,906, but it doesn’t give the percentage. Putting the second dose numbers against 2019 population estimates from the U.S. Census,  the portion of Baltimore city’s population has been fully vaccinate would be 2.8%. It seems likely that the second dose percentages will appear on the dashboard when that number gets closer to double digits.

The data dashboard is the latest sign of the City using digital tools to communicate public health info in the pandemic. In the early months of COVID-19, tools were launched to track info about coronavirus infections and the pandemic. The start of vaccinations in late 2020 spurred new tools for shots. At that time, the health department also launched a site with infographics and other info about the vaccine.

Donte Kirby is a 2020-2022 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation.