New York City Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday he is urging the Biden administration to supply a tranche of monkeypox vaccines that reflects the city’s status as the “epicenter” of the unusual outbreak.
The city expects to receive nearly 15,000 doses by the end of the week, but the Democratic mayor said appointments are being snapped up quickly.
Mr. Adams said he is trying to forge a better strategy with Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“We discussed the supply constraints that New York City is facing and the urgency to expand our vaccine access footprint to more people, in more neighborhoods, through more partners and providers. We reaffirmed our shared commitment to address this outbreak in a manner that is equitable and addresses areas of highest need and those most at risk,” Mr. Adams said in a description of a Tuesday call. “We also shared our commitment to expeditiously address the current shortage through upcoming allocations in ways that are proportional to the current burden of disease here in New York City — the epicenter of the monkeypox epidemic — while expanding our efforts on the ground to get New Yorkers accurate information and necessary precaution for prevention.”
The city health department says that 267 people have tested positive for orthopoxvirus and that likely all of those cases will be confirmed as monkeypox.
Complicating the response, a signup system in New York City has been plagued by glitches, and appointments made by phone were not logged correctly, frustrating the LBGTQ community during Pride Month.
Recent outbreaks have predominantly impacted men who have sex with men, though not exclusively. Anyone can catch monkeypox from another person through sustained close contact.
Monkeypox is endemic to parts of Africa and features a telltale rash, though it is rarely fatal. The disease began spreading in Europe, the U.S. and other nonendemic places in mid-spring, befuddling public health experts.
The U.S. has recorded 929 cases, but that is likely a vast undercount, as the country tries to ramp up testing.
The outbreak is a mounting challenge for the Biden administration, which recently released a strategy that enlists commercial labs to increase testing and calls for widespread distribution of a vaccine known as Jynneos.
Monkeypox does not spread as efficiently as viruses like the one causing COVID-19, so scientists believe traditional testing and tracing methods, combined with vaccination of at-risk persons, can be effective in controlling the outbreaks.
Government scientists say anyone with a rash that looks like monkeypox should talk to their health care provider about whether they need to get tested, even if they don’t think they had contact with someone who has monkeypox.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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