New York has emerged as a hotspot for a growing monkeypox outbreak, but as the city prepares to receive thousands of doses of vaccine, it’s unclear how the city will distribute them fairly among the people most at risk for the virus. disease: sexually active homosexuals, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, among whom the global outbreak is concentrated.
Last week, a single clinic in Chelsea offered 1,000 doses of the vaccine that the city’s health ministry had released from stock. Hundreds of men showed up as walk-ins, bringing the line close to new people after about 90 minutes.
The city publicly announced the clinic’s opening at noon on Thursday only 30 minutes earlier. And on Monday, the last shots were handed out by appointment.
The process sparked criticism that those most connected to the world of public health and with the time to take hours off during a workday got the most of the first slots.
78 cases of monkeypox had been diagnosed in the city on Thursday, more than double the number reported a week ago, the health ministry said. And statewide, there were 72 cases on Wednesday, or 20 percent of the total of 351 cases in the country.
But more doses are on the way. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday that the federal government would soon be sending 8,195 additional doses of the monkeypox vaccine to the state, about 6,000 of which will go to New York City.
“In New York State, we have seen a disproportionate number of monkey pox cases, especially within our LGBTQ+ communities which have been particularly hard hit,” Ms Hochul said in a statement. “I recognize the fear and anxiety this outbreak has caused, especially for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers, so my team and I will continue to work around the clock to secure as many vaccines as possible for our residents.”
The city has vowed to broaden access to doses once they receive more, but there were no details about the distribution plan Thursday afternoon.
“This effort was just the beginning, and as supplies increase, we hope to expand to other parts of the city,” said Michael Lanza, a spokesman for the Department of Health, earlier this week.
He added that the health department had chosen the Chelsea Sexual Health Clinic in Manhattan as the site for the first doses because it was one of the best-known sexual health clinics in the city, with “a very long history in the community and providing culturally competent care for LGBTQ+ New Yorkers.”
The Department of Health has recommended the monkeypox vaccine for men at high risk of exposure, which they defined as men who have had multiple or anonymous male sexual partners in the past two weeks.
The vaccine allocation, part of a national distribution plan for hundreds of thousands of doses announced Tuesday by the White House, comes as monkeypox continues to spread and experts warn of the rapidly closing window for containing the virus.
The United States Department of Health and Human Services will immediately provide 56,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine, called Jynneos, and another 240,000 doses in the coming weeks, the White House announced. An additional 750,000 doses are expected to become available in the summer and a total of 1.6 million doses are expected to be ready by the end of this year.
What you need to know about the Monkeypox virus?
What is monkey pox? Monkeypox is a virus endemic to parts of Central and West Africa. It is similar to smallpox, but less serious. It was discovered in 1958, after outbreaks occurred in monkeys kept for research, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“This vaccine currently has some supply restrictions and for this reason the current government vaccine strategy is prioritizing making it available to those who need it most urgently,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at a news conference.
Federal officials also announced that state health authorities could request doses of an older smallpox vaccine called ACAM2000, but it’s been associated with serious side effects, including death, in immunocompromised people, pregnant women and older adults.
Demand for the vaccine in New York City is expected to exceed initial supply, raising tough questions about who should have access to it. Officials have urged the federal government to provide as many vaccines as possible. The Jynneos vaccine requires two doses to be fully effective, spaced one month apart.
“If you have a large population that wants to protect themselves, I think we have to do everything in our power to get them to do that,” said state senator Brad Hoylman, pushing for more doses.
In addition to the vaccine, experts have pushed for more education and testing campaigns to ensure more people are aware of the symptoms of the virus so that they can be monitored for it.
For now, monkeypox testing remains centralized in a network of public labs, making it difficult for some health care providers to order tests. However, the CDC allows some commercial labs to conduct the test, which should make testing more accessible in July.
Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health and a longtime advocate for HIV/AIDS treatment, warned that the cases picked up by testing were likely “the tip of the iceberg.” He and other experts are concerned that the outbreak could spread to other populations, especially congregational institutions such as prisons and shelters for the homeless, if health officials don’t act soon.
“We have a way between containing this outbreak or continuing it, especially in the gay community,” he said. “And I think we’re on this road to persistence in the gay community as a new part of our lives for now.”