Eligibility for Monkeypox Vaccine Expanded – NBC Los Angeles

Los Angeles County health officials on Tuesday announced another slight expansion of monkeypox vaccine availability, along with a website that allows eligible residents to sign up for a waiting list to receive the vaccine.

As of Tuesday, there were 120 cases of monkeypox in Los Angeles County, double the 60 reported a week ago and more than the 54 reported 11 days ago. County Public Health Department officials stressed again that while the number is increasing, the risk of contracting monkeypox in the general population remains extremely low.

Dr. Rita Singhal, the department’s medical director, noted that there have been no hospitalizations or deaths in the county due to monkeypox.

He acknowledged rising levels of concern among some residents over the spread of the virus, which is usually restricted to select African nations but has now been detected in 69 countries around the world.

Andrea Kim, director of DPH Vaccine Preventable Disease Control, said supplies of the JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine remain extremely limited, even though the county has received thousands more doses in recent weeks.

As of Tuesday, approximately 5,400 doses of the vaccine have been administered in the county. Kim said the county received about 9,800 new doses as of the end of last week, with another 7,000 expected by the end of this week.

While that number remains low in a county the size of Los Angeles, health officials said they have slightly expanded eligibility for the vaccine.

Vaccines will continue to be available to people confirmed by the Department of Public Health to have had immediate or high-risk contact with a known monkeypox patient, and to people who attended an event or visited a location where there was a high risk exposure to a confirmed case. Those individuals are generally identified through the county’s contact tracing efforts, and will be notified by the county.

Last week, the county expanded eligibility to residents who meet select criteria, saying they could get a vaccine from their health care, or with a referral from a health care provider or through a referral to a vaccine clinic.

As of last week, those referrals were available for gay and bisexual and transgender people with a diagnosis of rectal gonorrhea or syphilis in the past three months. On Tuesday, however, eligibility was expanded to people who received such a diagnosis in the past year.

Also eligible for the vaccines are gay, bisexual, or transgender men, people taking HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, or who attended or worked in a commercial sex venue or other place where they had anonymous sex or sex with multiple couples, such as in a sauna, bathhouse, or sex club, in the past 21 days.

People who think they meet any of the criteria can contact their health care provider to see if that provider can administer the vaccine.

Qualified individuals who do not have a health care provider, or whose provider does not have the vaccine, may make an appointment at a designated immunization clinic or walk-in location. Information is available at ph.lacounty.gov/monkeypox. A list of monkeypox vaccine locations is available at http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/chs/DPHMonkeypoxSchedule.pdf.

On Tuesday, the county also activated a website where residents can fill out an online form to see if they may be eligible for a vaccine and pre-register to be added to a waiting list.

People who register on the site and are eligible for the vaccine will receive a text message when it is available and with information on where to get the vaccine.

The registration website is ph.lacounty.gov/monkeypoxsignup.

The vaccine is a two-shot regimen, so additional supplies set aside will be needed to provide second doses to those who received the initial shot.

Health officials said the infection is spread through contact with bodily fluids, monkeypox sores, or shared items such as bedding or clothing that were contaminated with fluids. It can also be transmitted through saliva and sexual contact.

Most people who develop monkeypox only have a mild illness that goes away within two to four weeks without treatment. People with symptoms are urged to visit a medical provider, cover the area of ​​the rash with clothing, wear a mask, and avoid close or skin-to-skin contact with others. The US Centers for Disease Control especially recommends these steps for people who recently traveled to an area where monkeypox cases have been reported, or who have had contact with suspected or confirmed cases.

A complete list of countries that have confirmed cases of monkeypox is available at https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/alert/monkeypox.

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