NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — The monkeypox outbreak in New York City has now surpassed 1,000 cases, with New York state having the most cases nationwide.
As of Tuesday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had identified roughly 3,500 instances of monkeypox/orthopoxvirus — with the city accounting for 30% of the rising national case total.
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Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday announced that the state Department of Health has reviewed and approved Quest Diagnostics' recent application for a new PCR test to identify the virus.
New York City's Commissioner of Health, Dr. Ashwin Vasan, told 1010 WINS' Newsline with Brigitte Quinn that the city will be administering a total of 26,000 additional doses through Aug. 13.
Although around 17,000 first doses of the vaccine have been given out, Vasan acknowledged that demand is still high with supply limited.
"We need much more than we have gotten and that we are getting," he added. "We still think we have a chance to slow this down. It is not inevitable that this becomes [an] endemic virus that we just have to learn to live with. We have to get shots in arms to slow this thing down."
He said the city is expected to hear from the federal government with a number and a timeline for the arrival of more vaccines in the coming days.
Increasing public awareness is also key, according to Vasan.
Though the virus can target anyone, he noted the "old virus is behaving in a new way" by "introducing itself" into the LGBTQ community.
"It just so happens the two have intersected for this outbreak," Vasan added.
The two-dose vaccine is only eligible for now to "gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men and transgender, gender non-conforming or gender non-binary persons ages 18 and older who have had multiple or anonymous sex partners in the last 14 days," according to the city's department of health.
Click here to learn more about the virus.
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