BALTIMORE — A large number of Marylanders had signed up to get the coronavirus vaccine at a sports stadium only to have the appointments canceled.
The Baltimore Sun reported Sunday that most people had signed up using an invalid link.
The vaccine appointments had been scheduled to occur at M&T Bank Stadium. The University of Maryland Medical System said the booking link was made “inadvertently” public.
Spokesman Michael Schwartzberg said people who had signed up have since been notified that their vaccines were canceled because eligibility couldn’t be confirmed.
He said that a non-public website had inadvertently made an appointment booking link discoverable.
“Vaccination appointments were created in error by several thousand people via this invalid link, where vaccination eligibility was unable to be confirmed, and the link was shared widely before we were able to shut it down,” Schwartzberg said.
M&T Bank Stadium is scheduled to open Thursday as the state’s third mass vaccination site. State health officials have yet to say when people can register for the vaccine.
Using M&T Bank Stadium as a mass vaccination site is part of an agreement with the NFL, the federal government and states across the country, to make vaccines more available at large sites.
Six Flags in Prince George's County is one of these sites that have been set up.
NFL football stadiums have been used during the pandemic in the U.S. to help give vaccines and provide COVID-19 tests.
FedEx Field in Prince George's County was used as a COVID-19 testing site in 2020.
