New York City health officials report the number of confirmed monkeypox cases nearly doubled in the last five days. Lines for vaccinations stretch for blocks.
Health officials in New York City reported 618 people tested positive for orthopoxvirus as of July 18 and that all of these are likely to be monkeypox. This is up from 336 cases reported on July 13.
“Vaccine supply remains low,” officials stated. “NYC is receiving a limited number of doses from the federal government, and we are making them available to New Yorkers as quickly as possible.”
Officials added that there are no appointments currently available. “We will make more appointments available as we receive more supply.”
The lack of appointments did not stop people from lining up for blocks on Sunday in anticipation of less than 1,400 doses of the monkeypox vaccine, independent journalist Karen Yi reported.
The line earlier today outside one of NYC’s mass vax sites for monkeypox in Brooklyn. City says 1,392 doses will be given here. @Gothamist pic.twitter.com/INeYMgryEV
— Karen Yi (@karen_yi) July 17, 2022
On Monday, gay men in San Francisco protested the federal government’s “failure” to provide enough monkeypox vaccine to prevent the outbreak from becoming a major problem, Breitbart News’ Joel B. Pollak reported.
Pollack wrote:
When President Joe Biden campaigned in 2020, he attacked the Trump administration for what he called a failed approach to the coronavirus pandemic. He and former President Barack Obama claimed that Trump had ignored a pandemic “playbook” the previous administration had left behind.
However, Breitbart News — which seemed to be the lone outlet that actually read the so-called “playbook” — reported that it was less than advertised, with few pages dealing with an international pandemic, and mostly summarizing other documents.
…
Demonstrators in San Francisco were concerned that the Biden administration had failed to provide enough vaccines to prevent the monkeypox virus from becoming endemic within the community, noting that a vaccine had been developed in 2019 but was then “ignored.”
CDC officials report the demand for the vaccine now outpaces the national supply, Politico reported.
“I want to acknowledge that at this time the demand for vaccines from jurisdictions is higher than our current available supply, and we know that this is frustrating,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said during a briefing on Friday. “We anticipate an increase in cases in the coming weeks.”
She described the vaccine supply shortage as “frustrating.”
U.S. Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell added, “While the supply of the Jynneos vaccine has been limited recently, we’re starting to see supply increase and as it does, we are going to continue getting those doses out as quickly, efficiently and equitably as possible.”
Monkeypox was a slowly expanding crisis; we had plenty of time to prepare. The fact that CDC struggled with so many parts of response should prompt Congress to make fundamental changes to scope and nexus of pandemic planning as matter of national security. https://t.co/mUjZ2HeaOm
— Scott Gottlieb, MD (@ScottGottliebMD) July 15, 2022
Endpoints News reports the FDA granted approval for an order for 2.5 million doses of the vaccine from Bavarian Nordic, a Danish vaccine manufacturer. The doses will be shipped to the strategic national stockpile. Shipments are expected to begin later this month.
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