Dallas County has confirmed 175 cases of monkeypox, the most of any county in Texas. Health Director Phil Huang gave the latest numbers to the Dallas County Commissioners Court Tuesday.
"Not to diminish the importance of monkeypox, fortunately there have been very few deaths," Huang said.
Huang said Dallas County has received more than 5,100 doses of the vaccine from the state. Last week, the CDC said it would send 800,000 doses of the vaccine to states.
"That was reassuring to us that we will be able to get some additional vaccine in the coming weeks," Huang said.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said the county has asked for 10,000 doses from the CDC.
"That's not to say that's the amount that's absolutely adequate," Jenkins said. "We're just dealing with a situation where they're ramping up vaccine. Everybody needs some, and we're hopeful we can get that."
Dallas County is making the vaccine available to men 18 and older "who have sex with men who have had multiple or anonymous sex partners in the past 14 days" and people who have had "close, intimate, skin-to-skin contact with someone who has tested positive for monkeypox."
Eligible people can schedule an appointment to get the vaccine by calling (972) 692-2780.
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