PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia has yet to receive its allotment of monkeypox vaccine, while New York City’s health department tweeted that theirs arrived on Wednesday. Philadelphia health officials say there’s a good reason for that.
“Right now we're anticipating receiving some, but it may not be for a few more weeks,” said James Garrow with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health.
He says New York got the delivery first because there are more cases there than in Philadelphia.
“When the CDC and the White House came out with their plan to distribute monkeypox vaccine, they set the country up into a number of tiers with places that have the highest number of monkeypox cases receiving the first allotments, with other cities and states receiving them later,” Garrow said.
Garrow says there are doses available in Philadelphia for those who need them, on a case by case basis. He recommends that anyone in Philadelphia who may have been exposed visit a doctor.
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For example, Garrow says, any Philadelphians who attended recent Pride celebrations in New York City could be at risk.
“If any of this transmission did happen during the Pride festivities, now would be the time where you would start to see those cases pop up,” Garrow said.
“After the case is tested, and if it comes back positive and we have a new case of monkeypox, our staff will work with them to identify any contacts that they may have. And at that point, we'll be able to get them vaccine,” he said.
He adds, monkeypox is certainly not a gay disease.
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“It's really just unlucky that this started in the gay community,” he said. “Anyone who has had close personal contact with someone who has monkeypox is at risk.”
Garrow says the best way to avoid transmission is to avoid close contact with someone who has, or thinks they have, monkeypox.
“So what that means, really, is having open and honest conversations with people that you're close to.”