What to Know
- New York City’s next monkeypox vaccine allocation is for 25,693 doses, as the city continues to grapple with an increase in cases.
- New appointments went online for these new doses starting on Friday at 6 p.m. — and all were gone by 6:30 p.m.
- New York City's health commissioner says the city is battling dueling pandemics after a low vaccine supply and slow testing apparatus haven't been able to contain one of the largest-ever outbreaks of monkeypox.
New York City's latest monkeypox vaccine allocation, which includes nearly 26,000 doses, will start going into arms next week after appointments went online — and were quickly booked up — Friday evening.
The appointments were available through the city's vaccine portal starting at 6 p.m. Those seeking one of the shots needed to act fast, as once again demand for appointments was instantaneous. All available slots were booked within a half hour of the portal opening, continuing a trend seen in previous times appointments were opened to the public.
Just a week ago, when the city got its last shipment, the 9,000 appointments it made available were scooped up within 10 minutes.
"The Health Department is moving quickly to distribute as many vaccine doses as we can in the most equitable way possible," said Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan. "With cases rising, it’s clear that there is a great need for more vaccine in New York City, and we are working with our federal partners to obtain more doses."
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The appointments, which will go from July 24 through Aug. 13., are be for vaccinations at the Chelsea, East Harlem and Corona sexual health clinics, which are operated by the department.
Appointments will also open two locations operated by NYC Health + Hospitals: Gotham Health, Vanderbilt on Staten Island and Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. Of the 17,000 appointments being made available, the health department said that 10,600 will be for doses given out over three days at mass vacciantion sites across the city.
Those mass inoculation sites will be open on July 24, July 30 and July 31, at the following locations:
- Brooklyn: Science Skills Center High School, 49 Flatbush Ave Ext.
- Queens: IS 125, 46-02 47 Ave.
- Bronx: Bronx High School of Science, 75 W 205th St
Other additional doses will be kept for referrals from community-based organizations that serve higher-risk residents, the health department said. The remaining doses will be held for provider administered vaccinations and contacts of known cases identified through contact tracing.
The appointments, which the city didn't make available until it got the doses in hand earlier this week, are for first doses only. The city decided that it would prioritize first doses for as many as possible.
This most recent allocation adds to the 21,500 doses already given to New York City. The city’s new allocation includes 23,963 doses directly from the federal government and 2,000 from New York state.
However, the state has said there still may not be enough vials to accommodate everyone who is eligible to receive a shot.
More resources are incoming but slowly as New York City battles what its health commissioner has called dueling pandemics, low vaccine supplies and slow testing systems as it battles its largest-ever monkeypox outbreak.
The latest effort to maximize vaccine distribution comes as the city announced 839 people tested positive for orthopoxvirus/monkeypox, an increase of 61 in just one day.
MONKEYPOX IN NYC
New Yorkers can sign up for text notifications to receive alerts about monkeypox in NYC, including appointment releases, by texting MONKEYPOX to 692692 or MONKEYPOXESP for alerts in Spanish.
Officials are scrambling to contain monkeypox in New York City, which finds itself the epicenter of another major public health crisis as the latest batch of reported cases keeps the Big Apple out ahead of all other state counts.
Elected leaders and health officials across the city have decried the lack of vaccine supply (the city reportedly gets 10% of the country's supply but accounts for at least a quarter of all cases) and inequity in its distribution. A single clinic opened in Chelsea during the first rounds of vaccine slots before more followed in Harlem, Queens and Staten Island.
“We are beginning to see a repeat of almost every challenge we faced in the early days of COVID — lack of testing capacity, lack of vaccine, lack of treatment. We learned these lessons the hard way during the last pandemic and should have been ready for this,” said Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine.
Levine published a seven-point "action plan" on Monday he hopes will turnaround the early hiccups, which have included significant technological errors in obtaining vaccine appointments. Here are Levine's seven steps:
- Give NYC its fair share of the vaccine
- Create a pre-registration appointment portal
- Increase access to testing
- Increase access to treatment
- Re-open the city's sexual health clinics
- Better educate clinicians and healthcare providers
- Focus on equity
Suffolk County Executive said that the county will be getting another 1,800 vaccines from the state, and will be administering the vaccines both on the mainland and on Fire Island over the next two weeks.
On Friday, about 525 vaccines will be available in the Cherry Grove neighborhood of Fire Island, with appointments available through the county's website. Appoints will also be made available on July 25 for another 400 vaccines that will be administered next week on Fire Island, and the county will offer 250 vaccines at the Northwell Health Community Center in the Westfield Mall.
In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy announced that eligibility to get a monkeypox vaccine is being expanded, beyond just those who had a known exposure. The state said that, in accordance with CDC guidelines, the vaccine will also be available to individuals who identify as gay, bisexual, or men who have sex with men, and/or transgender, gender non-conforming, or non-binary and who have a history of multiple or anonymous sex partners within the past 14 days.
"New Jersey has been given a very limited number of doses at this time, and the Department continues to press the CDC on timely delivery of additional necessary doses to meet the needs of our at-risk populations,” said Health Commissioner Persichilli. “At the same time, residents should be aware of the signs and symptoms of the orthopoxvirus and take precautions to prevent the spread.”
