Category: Monkey Pox Vaccine

Health officials are working to ensure people receive their second vaccines.

ATLANTA Health departments across Georgia are trying to keep up with the demand for the monkeypox vaccine. Health officials are working to ensure patients receive their first and second doses.

In DeKalb County, a second vaccine appointment is scheduled at the time of the first vaccine appointment. The Fulton County Board of Health sent out a tweet on Wednesdayfor those who were eligible to call and make an appointment.

A spokesperson for the department explained there was a delay in sending out emails to the first group who received the vaccine, but they were working to make appointments available in a timely manner.

11Alive Medical Exert Dr. Sujatha Reddy explained the two doses of the vaccine are designed to provide maximum protection from monkeypox. She explained the vaccine is given in two doses over a four-week period.

"They're injecting a monkeypox virus that cannot duplicate itself. So, it's not going to make you sick. It stays in your body. Your immune system sees this sort of inactive virus and starts making antibodies to it. So while it is a part of the monkeypox vaccine, it's not enough of the vaccine to give you monkeypox, but it's enough to tell your immune system this is a bad actor, make antibodies against it," she said.

The Futon County Board of Health plans to send emails to those who are eligible for their second doses, which guides them to the State Department of Health Online Portal.

Dr. Reddy said at this stage, it's important to make sure those who are most at risk, as outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have access to the vaccine and get their second doses.

"Not everybody out there needs to rush to get a monkeypox vaccine. So we want the people at risk to get the vaccine and get both doses," she said.

Dr. Reddy also said those seeking appointments should ask questions to make sure they are prepared to get the vaccine in a timely manner.

"Ask them, 'Are they holding that second dose for you?' Because it's going to be important to get people fully vaccinated to really get a handle on this epidemic," Dr. Reddy said.

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Georgia's health departments strive to meet the demand for monkeypox vaccine - 11Alive.com WXIA

Test tubes labelled "Monkeypox virus positive" are seen in this illustration taken May 22, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

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LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - European countries could stretch out limited supplies of the monkeypox vaccine by administering smaller doses of the shot, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Friday.

The agency's advice is in line with the so-called fractional dosing approach endorsed by U.S. regulators in which one vial of the vaccine can be used to administer up to five separate doses - instead of a single dose - by injecting a smaller amount in between layers of the skin (intradermal injection). read more

The vaccine - called Jynneos, Imvanex and Imvamune, depending on geography - was designed to be injected into a layer of fat beneath the skin, known as a subcutaneous injection.

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As a temporary measure, national authorities may decide to use the vaccine as an intradermal injection at a lower dose to protect at-risk individuals during the current monkeypox outbreak while supply of the vaccine remains limited, the EMA said.

The recommendation is based on a study involving about 500 adults, which compared the performance of the vaccine given either intradermally or subcutaneously, as two doses given about a month apart.

Those who received the intradermal injection received one fifth of the subcutaneous dose, but produced similar levels of antibodies as those who received the original subcutaneous dose, the EMA said.

However, the agency cautioned there was a higher risk of local reactions, such as redness, and thickening or discoloration of the skin after intradermal injections.

More than 40,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox - including a handful of deaths - in over 80 countries where the virus is not endemic have been reported since early May.

The World Health Organization has declared the outbreak a global health emergency. The vaccine, made by Bavarian Nordic (BAVA.CO), is in short supply.

Several countries are stretching out the available doses, with unknown outcomes, to make the most of existing supplies.

Britain, Canada, and Germany are administering one dose per person instead of two, which allows them to inoculate more people even if they each may receive less or less durable protection.

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Reporting by Natalie Grover in London; Editing by Mike Harrison and Alistair Bell

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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EU backs changing monkeypox vaccine injection method to boost supply - Reuters

Bettigole said this allocation change will delay the citys plans to expand its vaccine rollout to more people. Currently, most doses are going to residents whove had suspected or confirmed monkeypox exposures.

We have a large, high-risk population that desperately needs and wants this vaccine, Bettigole said. We have a local health department that is able and willing to work with community partners to get it into arms. And those two things together mean that we should be getting more vaccine.

There are 353 recorded cases of monkeypox in Pennsylvania so far, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A public city tracking dashboard shows that 198 of those cases are in Philadelphia.

The city has so far received about 6,445 doses of vaccine. More than 80% of those have already been administered to high-risk residents or distributed to community health providers.

Philadelphia was set to receive another 3,612 vials of vaccine by the fall, before the supply was cut to 720 vials.

The change in allocation, made by the U.S. Health and Human Services Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, comes on the heels of a new national dosing strategy, which instructs health providers to give an intradermal injection of one-fifth of the full dose to each person.

The idea behind the strategy is to increase the total number of vaccinations. Philadelphia health officials said they thought theyd be doing this with the original allotment of vaccine.

Our understanding was, great, we can give more doses, Bettigole said. Its a little bit more complicated to do, theres some additional training for the vaccinators, but thousands more people could get vaccinated. Unfortunately, thats not where we are right now.

In discussions with federal agencies earlier this week, Bettigole said it was her understanding that the federal government is reserving the additional vaccine vials for ongoing planning in the U.S. monkeypox outbreak.

A request for comment from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wasnt immediately returned Wednesday afternoon.

Bettigole said the city department will continue to make its case to federal agencies for more vaccines.

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Thousands of monkeypox vaccines no longer coming to Philly, as city rethinks prevention strategy - WHYY

To obtain a monkeypox vaccine in the city of Richmond or Henrico County, residents are asked to fill out an interest form that asks several personal questions: Do you visit sex clubs? How many sexual partners have you had in the past 3 months? Have you engaged in anonymous sex?

Richmond resident Demas Boudreaux wanted a vaccine, but he felt uncomfortable answering the questions and sending his personal information into the World Wide Web, where it could be subject to hacking.

Boudreaux

Instead, he sought the vaccine in Roanoke, where the application process involved no personal questions. He called and got his shot a week later.

Roanokes process was infinitely more user-friendly and non-invasive, said Boudreaux, a member of the states LGBTQ advisory board. But he understands why the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts have to ask those questions to sort out who is most in need of the under-allocated shot.

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Im not trying to throw the health department under the bus, he said. I do trust the health department, but it feels a little icky.

Gay men in the Richmond area are unhappy with the limited number of monkeypox vaccine doses available, the personal information the health district is asking them to divulge, and the way some have stigmatized the virus as a gay disease.

I think theres obvious frustration about the number of vaccines that are available and how theyre being rolled out, said Narissa Rahaman, executive director of Equality Virginia, an organization that works on behalf of LGBTQ residents.

There have been nearly 14,000 cases of monkeypox in the U.S., but only 248 in Virginia and 21 in the states central region.

All but two have occurred in men, and most are in gay and bisexual men, health officials have said. Symptoms include lesions, fever and body pains. There have been no deaths in the U.S.

The U.S. recently made available an additional 1.8 million doses of the Jynneos vaccine, which was licensed in 2019 to prevent monkeypox and smallpox.

Vials of single doses of the Jynneos vaccine for monkeypox were seen in the vaccine hub at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center on July 29.

The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts have received 937 doses and distributed more than half. But thats not nearly enough to cover the roughly 4,000 people who have submitted an interest form.

The Biden administration recently recommended state health departments inject the shot intradermally, or between the layers of the skin, rather than subcutaneously, or under the skin. Injecting it intradermally allows for five doses per vial as opposed to the one dose per vial currently available.

The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts are training their staff to apply the shot intradermally but have not begun doing so, said Dr. Elaine Perry, the districts director.

Localities not putting it out there

When Boudreaux contacted a health district near Roanoke, the district asked him why he wanted a monkeypox shot. Boudreaux responded that hes gay, and that was enough to satisfy the health district.

About a week later, he drove to the Roanoke area. The timing worked out, as he had a work commitment nearby. After four weeks, hell return for a second shot.

I was able to make it work, Boudreaux said.

Phil Kazmierczak, a Virginia Beach resident who is also a member of the LGBTQ advisory board, was asked just one question when he sought the vaccine near his home.

Kazmierczak

The health officials wanted to know if he was eligible for the vaccine according to the state health departments standards. Residents are eligible if they are gay or bisexual men, transgender women who have sex with men, sex workers, people who work at establishments where sexual activity occurs or people who attend sex-on-premises venues.

Kazmierczak replied that yes, he is eligible. The next day, he received the shot.

He said local officials could do a better job notifying communities how to get it.

Our local governments are not putting it out there, he told the advisory council. Theyre just not.

Asking personal questions helps the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts determine who is at the highest risk, said Dr. Melissa Viray, a deputy director for the departments. With demand outpacing supply, the districts will prioritize the residents with the highest risk.

The local districts considered using a less invasive questionnaire, but decided to keep them while demand is high, Viray said.

To protect personal data from intrusion, the district uses Research Electronic Data Capture, or REDCap, a secure web application developed by Vanderbilt University, to house the information. REDCap is compliant with HIPAA, the federal standard for patient privacy, Viray said. Data is stored on a server internally managed by the health districts.

Staff also limits which employees can access patient records.

Its nobodys business except for those who absolutely have to have it, Viray said.

Theres no such thing as a gay disease

A lack of information and misinformation are still an issue with monkeypox, so Equality Virginia is doing its best to make sure people are educated, Rahaman said.

The organization is relaying information about the disease from the health department so people can understand the symptoms, how one becomes exposed and demand for the vaccine. That will help people make better decisions.

Equality Virginia is also encouraging people to get tested if they develop symptoms so officials can have a more accurate number of cases in the state.

Its also doing its best to fight misinformation.

Its not a gay disease because theres no such thing as a gay disease, Rahaman said.

Last week, Kazmierczak posted to his Facebook that a monkeypox vaccination event would be held at a Norfolk club. He was met with a lack of understanding and a lack of empathy.

Tell me this is a joke, commented one person.

Safe sex is always a better option than experimental vaccines provided by your tyrannical government, said another. The last one they forced on the American people should be a glaring example of their complete ineptitude.

(Jynneos was approved in 2019, but the virus material in the shot is similar to the first smallpox vaccine developed in 1796.)

Another said 90% of monkeypox infections are in men who have sex with men. Change the culture and keep men safe and healthy. Its safer than vaccines.

Health experts recommend people interested in the vaccine receive it if eligible.

According to health experts, monkeypox can be spread in ways other than sexual contact. It can be spread by sharing clothing or sheets that havent been washed or other skin-to-skin contact. Public health officials have warned college students that campuses could become incubators for the virus.

Should it spread to the community at large, Boudreaux worries the gay community will be blamed, similar to how Asian Americans were targeted for the spread of the coronavirus. Spread of the virus could be curtailed if there were more vaccines, Boudreaux said.

Theres just not enough vaccine, he added.

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Gay men in Richmond frustrated with monkeypox vaccine supply, invasive form - Richmond Times-Dispatch

Health officials are looking to make progress on a long waitlist for vaccines while they offer tailored messaging.

As monkeypox continues to spread in Multnomah County, health officials are working to provide a short supply of vaccines to people on a growing waitlist.

As of Tuesday, Aug. 16, there were 1,500 people on the county's waitlist for the vaccine, called JYNNEOS, according to county officials. That's up from 500 people a month ago.

Due to a national shortage of vaccines, the Oregon Health Authority is limiting doses to people considered high-risk for monkeypox, also known as hMPXV.

"I hope that as we have more vaccine, the eligibility criteria will become more broad," Kim Toevs, communicable disease and harm reduction director for the county, told the board of commissioners during a briefing Tuesday. "When it does, it will become a lot more simple."

High-risk people include those who've had close contact with someone with monkeypox, people who've had sex with someone in the past two weeks who has been diagnosed with the disease, and people who had multiple sexual partners in the past two weeks in an area with community transmission of the virus.

Oregon was expected to receive a shipment from the federal government last week that would add 5,000 vials of the vaccine to the county's inventory, according to county officials.

Last month, OHA officials increased the supply of vaccines for Multnomah County, enabling the county to hold twice-weekly community vaccine clinics.

Also helping the county's efforts to limit the spread of the virus is a change in how the vaccine is administered. Earlier this month, federal health officials announced a new injection strategy, in which the vaccine is injected between layers of skin rather than into fat, increasing the number of doses per vial from one to five.

Toevs acknowledged Tuesday that the response to the monkeypox outbreak hasn't been perfect.

The limited supply of vaccines and a shortage of staff for the county's vaccination clinics have made it difficult to contain the virus.

"There's certainly more we could have done if we had more capacity," Toevs said.

She said health department staff have been applying lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to its monkeypox response, leaning on the relationships they've built across county departments and in the community.

"The teams are tired, but they're working really hard," Toevs said. "The teams are working incredibly effectively and efficiently. I'm just really proud of them and I think our response so far has been solid."

There were 116 cases of monkeypox statewide as of Wednesday, Aug. 17, with 73 of those cases in Multnomah County, according to OHA.

In addition to vaccinations, the county is focusing on testing people who develop symptoms so they can isolate, contacting people who may have been exposed to someone with the disease and encouraging people who are most at risk to take steps to protect themselves.

The disease spreads most easily by direct skin contact with rashes or sores people infected with the virus develop. It can be spread less readily by sharing bedding or clothing or from having prolonged close respiratory contact with infected people.

The group most heavily impacted by the virus has been gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. Health officials emphasize that while that group has been the most impacted, the virus can infect anybody. There's nothing specific about people who have sex with men that puts them at higher risk, gay, queer and trans communities have simply been the first socially connected groups affected, health officials say.

The county created recommendations specifically for the gay, queer and trans communities that include ways to reduce the likelihood of transmission, how to communicate with sexual partners, how to identify an infection and resources for access to testing and vaccines.

Health department staff have met with LGBTQ community organizations and groups that work with people of color to help educate vulnerable people, according to county officials.

"I appreciate the effort to tailor messaging," said Commissioner Sharon Meieran. "Some people in groups at the highest risk have a lot of fear and misinformation and don't know where to go."

Another group that has been disproportionately affected by the virus so far is people identifying as Hispanic. Twenty-seven percent of cases belong to the group, according to OHA data.

Toevs said the county needs to be ready in case the disease begins to increasingly affect different communities. "Obviously, our strategies will change," she said.

Anyone exposed to the virus or who may need a vaccine is being advised to call the county's health department call center at 503-988-8939.

For more information about monkeypox and how to protect against it, visit the county's website.

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MultCo to receive more monkeypox vaccines, continue education - Portland Tribune

With a new shipment of monkeypox vaccines expected Wednesday, Los Angeles County public health officials will begin administering second doses for the first time and again open registration for first shots to those considered high risk.

L.A. County Department of Public Health officials said in a statement that the latest shipment will allow them to increase vaccine distribution, but the 5,600 new Jynneos vaccines fall short of what federal officials had promised and still well below the amount needed to inoculate everyone considered high risk.

The county also increased vaccine eligibility to some children after federal officials last week authorized, under emergency use, the shots for those under 18.

The 5,600 vaccine vials about a third of what L.A. officials had expected to receive this week could be used to vaccinate about 28,000 people, following the Food and Drug Administrations recommendation to use only one-fifth of a full dose in order to expand supplies.

Many cities this week expressed frustration with changes to their vaccine distribution allotments after the federal government shifted its strategy.

With this latest shipment, L.A. public health officials plan to provide 8,000 second doses to people who received their first shot before July 20, or four or more weeks ago. The Jynneos vaccine is a two-dose series, taken four weeks apart.

The county had previously aligned with guidance from the state that instructed health departments to prioritize first doses while supplies were limited, but it did say second doses can be offered as more doses of Jynneos become available.

It wasnt immediately clear whether that guidance had changed, but last week, California Public Health Director Dr. Toms Aragn said the emergency use authorization provides more flexibility in how many doses are available.

We still expect demand to outpace supply and are assessing the impact of this authorization on our allocation and distribution strategy, Aragn said.

The L.A. public health department said all additional vaccines will be administered in the new smaller-dose intradermal technique which is given shallower and between layers of skin as opposed to under the skin and into the underlying fat. However, the earlier dosing technique will be used for those under 18 or with a history of keloid scars, health officials said, following federal guidelines.

There are almost 1,000 monkeypox cases confirmed or suspected in L.A. County as of Wednesday, following a week of almost daily double-digit increases, according to county data. Across the state, more than 2,300 cases have been confirmed or suspected more than double the tally from two weeks ago.

Monkeypox continues to spread primarily among men or transgender people who have sex with other men, according to public health officials, though anyone can catch the virus, regardless of gender or sexuality. Most transmission has come from intimate, prolonged skin-to-skin contact, but the virus can be spread through towels or bedsheets or shared respiratory secretions, such as kissing or other close face-to-face contact.

The countys online registration for a monkeypox vaccine had been closed the last few days but it opened Wednesday afternoon. Those interested in a vaccine also can call the Public Health Call Center from 8 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. at (833) 540-0473. The county said 19,000 of the smaller doses will be distributed to community providers and county vaccine sites.

To get a shot, people must meet the countys eligibility requirements, which prioritize gay and bisexual men or transgender people who have had multiple sex partners in the last two weeks or meet other criteria, such as having a sexually transmitted disease.

The county is requiring a consent form for children to receive the vaccine, and they also must meet the countys eligibility requirements.

For those eligible for a second Jynneos dose, county officials said they should contact their healthcare provider if thats where they received their first dose, or wait for a text message from the health department for further instructions.

Public Health has received assurances from the federal leadership that additional doses will be available in the coming weeks, the department said in a statement.

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Second dose of monkeypox vaccine now available in Los Angeles - Los Angeles Times

Who is eligible to get the monkeypox vaccine, which is in limited supply? Experts weigh in. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

With cases of monkeypox continuing to rise there are nearly 12,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the contagious virus doesnt seem to be going anywhere any time soon.

Although the majority of cases have been in men who have sex with men, at least eight children across the U.S. have reportedly tested positive for monkeypox, and recently a day care worker in Illinois was diagnosed with the virus. In addition, children under the age of 8 are at a higher risk of severe complications from monkeypox, the CDC says.

That may leave some people, including parents of young children, wondering whether they need to get the monkeypox vaccine for either themselves or their kids. Adding to the challenge is the fact that the vaccine Jynneos is in limited supply and not widely available to the general public.

Heres what experts have to say about who should get the monkeypox vaccine.

Monkeypox can spread to anyone through prolonged, close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact, as well as through contact with objects, fabrics clothing, bedding, or towels and surfaces that have been used by someone with monkeypox, or contact with respiratory secretions, through kissing and other face-to-face contact, internal medicine specialist Dr. Henry Ng, director of the transgender surgery and medicine program and director of the Center for LGBTQ+ Care at Cleveland Clinic, tells Yahoo Life.

Although monkeypox is not considered an STI (sexually transmitted infection), its predominantly spreading from sexual exposure, Dr. Brandi Manning, an infectious diseases physician at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, tells Yahoo Life. However, it can be contracted from any sort of prolonged direct contact, she says.

Experts say that, given the current limited supply of the Jynneos vaccine, we are prioritizing those at highest risk of exposure to be vaccinated first, says Manning.

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Its worth pointing out that there is another vaccine, ACAM2000, thats approved for smallpox and was made available for use against monkeypox under an Expanded Access Investigational New Drug protocol, says Ng. Although the single-dose vaccine is more widely available, it comes with more side effects and contraindications, with the CDC stating that many adverse events were more common in young children who received the vaccine. Jynneos, on the other hand, has been administered in the U.S. without any adverse events to date, according to the CDC.

Dr. Prathit Kulkarni, assistant professor of medicine in infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine, tells Yahoo Life that people who should consider getting the monkeypox vaccine include men who have sex with men (MSM) who have recently had multiple or anonymous sex partners, along with certain health care professionals, such as laboratorians who are performing monkeypox virus testing.

Others, including children and adolescents, should consider getting the vaccine if theyve had an unprotected exposure to another person with active monkeypox disease, says Kulkarni, adding: Such a recommendation would be guided by public health professionals depending upon the individual circumstances of the exposure.

On Aug. 9, the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization for the Jynneos vaccine that includes allowing health care providers to administer the vaccine to those younger than age 18 if theyre at high risk of monkeypox infection.

As students return to school or are in day care, there is some concern about monkeypox spreading in those close-contact conditions. But experts say the current risk is low. At the present time, the risk of monkeypox spread within day cares is believed to be quite low, says Kulkarni. There is no broad recommendation for vaccination of kids in day care or of parents of kids in day care.

Ng explains that, currently, there is no monkeypox vaccine available for administration to all children. However, there is a vaccine available to children under 18 years who have been exposed to monkeypox, Ng says.

If monkeypox infections continue to spread to other groups, then, yes, say experts. Manning anticipates that, as the U.S. vaccine supply increases and once those at the highest risk for monkeypox are vaccinated, we will then be able to expand vaccinations to other groups as well, including children.

Kulkarni agrees, saying its possible that going forward, the number of people recommended for prophylactic monkeypox vaccination will increase. This will depend upon the trajectory of the ongoing outbreak in the United States and globally.

The Jynneos vaccine series requires two doses, given four weeks apart. Similar to other vaccines, people are considered fully vaccinated with the Jynneos vaccine two weeks after receiving their second dose, says Ng. But how long the protection lasts is unknown, Ng notes.

Manning says the Jynneos vaccine was created for smallpox, in the event that we would need it. But she says that it wasnt widely used because fortunately, smallpox was eradicated in the past by a successful mass vaccination effort.

Since the smallpox and monkeypox viruses are similar they belong to the same group of viruses known as orthopoxvirus we are able to use Jynneos to vaccinate against monkeypox, but it takes time to increase production, Manning explains. The move to switch from subcutaneous injection [into the fat layer] to intradermal injection [between the layers of skin] will allow us to increase available doses substantially without sacrificing effectiveness.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced on Monday that its making up to 442,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine available to states to further combat the monkeypox outbreak.

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Who should get the monkeypox vaccine? Here's what experts say. - Yahoo Life

Monkeypox continues to spread across the globe with cases jumping by 20% over the last week, according to the World Health Organization.

Infections increased by nearly 7,500 to more than 35,000 cases total across 92 countries, but nearly all reported cases are in Europe and the Americas, according to WHO data. Twelve deaths have been reported so far.

The overwhelming majority of patients continue to be men who have sex with men, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. The global supply of the monkeypox vaccine, called Jynneos in the U.S., remains limited and data on its effectiveness in the current outbreak is sparse, Tedros said. Jynneos is manufactured by Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic.

"We remain concerned that the inequitable access to vaccines we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic will be repeated and that the poorest will continue to be left behind," Tedros said during a news conference in Geneva on Wednesday.

Though data on the vaccine's effectiveness is limited, there are reports of breakthrough cases in which people who received the shots after exposure to the virus are still falling ill as well as individuals becoming infected after receiving the vaccine as a preventative measure, according to Dr. Rosamund Lewis, the WHO's monkeypox technical lead.

The monkeypox vaccine can be administered after exposure to reduce the risk of severe disease or before exposure to reduce the risk of infection.

"We have known from the beginning that this vaccine would not be a silver bullet, that it would not meet all the expectations that are being put on it, and that we don't have firm efficacy data or effectiveness data in this context," Lewis told reporters.

These reports are not surprising, Lewis said, but highlight the importance of individuals taking other precautions such as reducing their number of sexual partners and avoiding group or casual sex during the current outbreak. It's also important for people to know that their immune system does not reach its peak response until two weeks after the second dose, she said.

"People do need to wait until the vaccine can generate a maximum immune response, but we don't yet know what the effectiveness will be overall," Lewis said. A small study from the 1980s found that the smallpox vaccines available at the time were 85% effective at preventing monkeypox. Jynneos was approved in the U.S. in 2019 to treat both smallpox and monkeypox, which are in the same virus family.

"The fact that we're beginning to see some breakthrough cases is also really important information, because it tells us that the vaccine is not 100% effective in any given circumstance," she said.

The WHO has observed some mutations in the monkeypox virus though it's not year clear what these changes mean for the behavior of the pathogen and how it impacts the human immune response, Lewis said.

The first known instance of an animal catching monkeypox from humans in the current outbreak was recently reported in Paris. A pet dog became infected by a couple who fell ill from the virus. The couple reported sharing their bed with the dog. Public health officials have advised people who are ill with monkeypox to isolate from their pets.

A pet becoming infected is not unusual or unexpected, said Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the WHO's health emergencies program. Dr. Sylvie Briand, head of pandemic preparedness at the WHO, said this does not mean that dogs can transmit the virus to people.

Lewis said there's a theoretical risk of rodents rummaging through garbage catching the virus, and it's important to manage waste properly to avoid infecting animals outside human households. Historically, monkeypox has jumped from rodents and other small mammals to people in West and Central Africa.

"What we don't want to see happen is disease moving from one species to the next and then remaining in that species," Ryan said. In this scenario, the virus could rapidly evolve, which would create a dangerous public health risk.

"I don't expect the virus to evolve any more quickly in one single dog than in one single human," he said.

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Monkeypox cases jumped 20% in the last week to 35,000 across 92 countries, WHO says - CNBC

How to Get a Monkeypox Vaccine in N.Y.C.  The New York Times

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How to Get a Monkeypox Vaccine in N.Y.C. - The New York Times

On Friday morning, Oscar and Darrick were among the first early-birds waiting in line outside King Countys sexual health clinic at Harborview to try to get the monkeypox vaccine.

People around us are getting sick, Oscar said. We are hearing that friends of friends or Hey, yeah, my friend just got the monkeypox. So when it starts hitting close to home, you kind of want to get the vaccine.

Its gross-looking; I hear theyre very painful; they hurt; they can get infected, said Darrick, Oscar's husband. And so I just want to protect myself against that.

The couple, who asked to only use their first names for privacy reasons, said they got to the clinic early so they could avoid long lines, and so Darrick could get to work almost on time.

Anyone can contract monkeypox, but the current outbreak is spreading primarily among gay men.

The supply of monkeypox vaccines from the federal government is limited: So far, King County has received 9,160 doses of the monkeypox vaccine, which is only 11% of the 80,000 doses county officials say are needed to vaccinate everyone at highest risk.

To try to make sure those scarce doses are reaching those most at risk of contracting the virus, King County put detailed eligibility requirements in place. But critics of the countys approach say its not working as intended and might actually be doing harm.

In King County, those currently eligible for the vaccine include a subset of men or transgender people who have sex with men: such as those whove had more than 10 sexual partners in the past three months, those whove used meth in the past month, or who meet certain other criteria. People whove had sexual or close contact with someone who tested positive for monkeypox can also get the vaccine.

The way those eligibility requirements are being rolled out might actually be creating problems, said Bekah Telew, the co-executive director of Seattles LGBTQ+ Center.

Thats because, when folks come in for a vaccine, the provider asks them to sign paperwork verifying their eligibility that theyve had 10 sexual partners in the past three months, for example, or that theyve had syphilis or gonorrhea in the past year.

It seems like something that would just create another barrier for folks who may identify in the eligible categories, but wouldnt be comfortable putting that on paper, Telew said.

Keletso Makofane, a social network epidemiologist at Harvard, agrees that the countys approach is inadvisable.

It is intrusive, and it also reveals a kind of callousness with respect to the meaning of sex, the meanings that people attach to sex, he said. To act as if you can just get this information as if these folks are robots who have no shame and no fear, who do not have a desire to keep some things private to not accommodate that humanity that gay men have around our lives is another kind of homophobia.

County officials said the goal of the eligibility requirements is to ensure that the people who most need the vaccine get it first, instead of the people with the most privilege. They said a first-come, first-served approach would mean that people with, say, flexible work schedules and a pre-existing relationship with a primary care provider would get the vaccine first.

Just as in the rollout of the Covid vaccine, the stringent eligibility criteria are only expected to be in place for a short time.

Were trying to be a little bit more targeted in who were giving it to in this initial phase, said Dr. Matthew Golden, the director of the sexual health clinic as well as the countys HIV/STD program. Golden is helping lead the countys monkeypox response. As we get more vaccine, we expect to change what those criteria will be.

Telew said she agrees with the countys aims but that the approach isnt working as officials intended.

Unfortunately, I think what were seeing is that folks who are more comfortable navigating systems because of the many privileges that folks may hold are going to get the vaccines regardless, she said.

Telew and Makofane agree that instead of writing and trying to enforce stringent eligibility requirements, a community-based approach would work better: setting up pop-up clinics at places where gay, bisexual, and transgender men already gather and feel comfortable.

A spokesperson said King Countys public health agency has used a number of strategies to reach the people at highest risk for exposure to the monkeypox virus and who might have limited access to the vaccine, including distributing the vaccine to community-based organizations and businesses and doing targeted outreach through UW Medicine.

The county has also held two pop-up vaccine events on weekends, where 1,200 people were vaccinated, and it plans to hold more pop-up clinics as soon as it has more vaccines on hand.

Also, the county's vaccine supply might stretch slightly further than anticipated, because some providers have started using a new vaccine administration technique that allows each vial to vaccinate three to four people instead of just one.

As people wait for vaccines, Makofane said there are steps they can take to reduce their risk of contracting monkeypox. They can reduce their number of sexual partners, choose a couple of stable partners and only have sex with them for the time being, and talk to them about what risks theyre taking and how many people theyre having sex with.

Also, he said, people who are going to be out in tight, crowded spaces, rubbing against other people, can reduce their risk of contracting the virus by wearing long sleeves.

He said using a condom can reduce the risk of transmission during sex, although monkeypox can also be transmitted through kissing and skin-to-skin contact.

Makofane also expressed frustration over the current state of vaccine access. He said it didnt have to be this way, with people waiting weeks or months for the vaccine as the outbreak continues to grow. He said it was a failure of the federal government.

The reason that people are scrambling for vaccine or are lining up very early in the morning for vaccine is not that there is some kind of global shortage, he said. Its that the people in charge of bringing vaccine over [to the US] did not decide to bring in as much vaccine as we needed.

All that can be done at the local level is set up systems that afford us a little dignity, he said. And theyve failed to do that, by and large.

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'Another kind of homophobia:' Critics say King County's monkeypox vaccine criteria are intrusive - KUOW News and Information