Saturday 16 July 2022

SF leaders say more monkeypox vaccines are needed

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- It is now known how many monkeypox vaccines San Francisco county will be receiving. The city's health department confirmed they are expecting a shipment of about 4,100 vaccines this coming week.

Based on the latest numbers, San Francisco has about 32 percent of the cases in California. The city is receiving about 28 percent of the state's vaccine allotment.

A little over 4 thousand vaccines feels like a slap in the face," said Tyler Termeer who is CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health says they will be getting 4,163 more doses of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine. This is after SFDPH requested 35,000 doses​ from federal supplies.

"We are one of the top cities in the country now experiencing monkeypox, and we certainly have a disproportionate impact here in the Bay Area," Termeer said.

The San Francisco AIDS Foundation's clinics have been vaccinating people as doses become available.

Termeer says they have experience controlling infections, having learned from the AIDS crisis.

"We are very well positioned to be in a responsive place to the epidemic if we had access to the resources we need," he said.

"Large cities with large LGBTQ populations are being hit the hardest," said Senator Scott Wiener. "It's not a gay disease, but it has hit our community first, and if we don't control it, it will spread beyond."

Based on the latest numbers from the CDC and SFDPH, San Francisco has about 32 percent of the monkeypox cases statewide, which is why leaders like Wiener say we need to do what we can to prevent the spread.

"It can't come fast enough," Wiener said. "We have limited time, a limited window to control this outbreak."

SFDPH and the AIDS foundation are working on educating people about the virus regardless of whether or not they can get a vaccine. They say it can be prevented by avoiding physical contact, covering the body when in crowds, and talking to your sexual partners.

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"It's the last thing we need right now," Wiener said. "We've had a really rough two years, and we're not done with COVID."

The SFDPH says they're looking at case data right now to determine where the doses should go. They want to get doses to those who may have already had an exposure to monkeypox.



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