SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Political and community leaders in California are demanding that the federal government dramatically increase the supply of vaccines for monkeypox.
For more, stream KCBS Radio now.
The San Francisco AIDS Foundation's Magnet Clinic in the Castro district is seeing an average of one to two cases of monkeypox per day, according to SFAF CEO, Dr. Tyler TerMeer.
He told KCBS Radio that they set up a special monkeypox hotline to handle the increasing number of questions and concerns. That hotline is now receiving more than 500 calls per day.
The clinic is looking at the best way to "triage" those who want access to the JYNNEOS vaccine because the supply is so limited.
"We received fewer than 100 doses at our clinic and we would need something like 6,000 doses in order to treat all of the patients that may be at risk at our sexual health clinic," he said.
"Right now we are only able to follow public health guidelines with the limited doses that we do have, offering vaccines to close contacts to people who have been or may have been exposed to monkeypox," he said.
About 400 people who meet that criteria are on a waiting list at the clinic.
"California has seen a doubling of their monkeypox cases in the last week," said TerMeer. "We're now the state with the largest number of cases of monkeypox. And there's not nearly enough vaccine not only in the country but certainly not here in California to effectively respond."
This outbreak is disproportionately impacting gay and bisexual men.
"I think it's important that we walk a fine line with this discussion. Monkeypox can affect anyone, and there’s no specific biological reason that men who have sex with men are at any higher risk," said TerMeer.
"We want to be sure that we are both ringing the alarm and that we are not somehow stigmatizing the men who have sex with men population. And with all of that being said, as a gay man myself, I am hearing from a lot of my peers and from the people that we serve that the urgency is just not there," he said.
"It's frightening and echoing back to a time of the early HIV epidemic where all we wanted was a strong federal response to prevent the spread of disease in a community, and here we are, a moment where there's an outcry from folks to get access to a vaccine that's impacting the same population and the response is just not there," said TerMeer.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health declined to be interviewed on the shortage but did provide KCBS Radio with a statement on their current monkeypox vaccine supply.
"SDPH has been receiving the Jynneos vaccine from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) to distribute to counties for preventative use in people who are identified as close contacts. We had received 580 as of Friday, July 1 and 2,308 additional doses this week," said the statement.
"Although vaccine supplies – which are dictated by state and federal partners - are still limited, SFDPH is expecting new allocations of the Jynneos vaccine to arrive regularly. The goal is to vaccinate as many people as possible who have been directly exposed to the monkeypox virus," the statement continued. "As more doses become available, SFDPH will expand the eligibility pool to include new categories of people who are higher risk in the social networks mentioned above including those within these self-identified groups who are immunocompromised because of HIV/AIDS or other medical conditions."
Some California officials, including State Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Matt Haney have called on the federal government to increase the vaccine supply.
The duo released a joint statement on Friday, saying that the federal government has "once again had a public health failure," by failing to provide enough monkeypox vaccine doses.
DOWNLOAD the Audacy App
SIGN UP and follow KCBS Radio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Related
