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Health


MPOX CASES TICKING UP YET AGAIN IN NYC, HEALTH OFFICIALS WARN

By Matt Tracy Posted on May 15, 2024
A family nurse practitioner prepares a syringe with the mpox vaccine in Brooklyn
on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2022.
AP Photo/Jeenah Moon

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Two years after an mpox outbreak swept through the city and infected thousands
of New Yorkers — mostly men who have sex with men — city health officials are
warning that cases are again on the rise in the five boroughs.

The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene issued a health
advisory alerting doctors about a “substantial increase” in cases since October
of last year and calling on physicians to encourage those at risk of mpox to get
fully vaccinated — including those who never completed the two-shot JYNNEOS
vaccine series two years ago.

  



The city reported 256 cases between October and April, mostly among Black or
Hispanic men who have sex with men between the ages of 25-44, according to the
advisory. Notably, 73% of cases were seen among individuals who were either not
vaccinated or only received one shot. The uptick coincides with an outbreak of a
more severe strain of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but there
are no reported cases in the US.

New York City declared an end to the outbreak in February of last year when
cases fell dramatically following a robust vaccination and awareness campaign.
The city saw two to 20 cases per month in the city between January and September
of last year.

“After the public health emergency ended, mpox didn’t go away,” Julian L.
Watkins, assistant commissioner of the Bureau of Health Equity Capacity Building
at the NYC Department of Health, told Gay City News. “There were monthly cases,
and they slowly ticked up.”

The city has seen 42 cases in the last month and 191 since Jan. 1, according to
the city’s most recent update on May 9. Watkins said no particular boroughs or
neighborhoods have stood out in the case count so far.

The increase in cases does not appear to be driven by any particular reason,
according to Watkins, who suggested that it could be a combination of
unvaccinated out-of-towners visiting the city and an overall increase in social
gatherings, especially in the aftermath of COVID.

Regardless of how we got here, though, officials are stressing the importance of
getting vaccinated as soon as possible.

“The big message is that it’s not too late for that second dose,” Watkins said,
referring to those who already received one jab of the vaccine. 

Unlike the vaccines for COVID or the flu, which are typically administered
annually, the mpox vaccine does not get re-administered after the full two-shot
course. An individual who received one shot in 2022 or 2023 can still get a
second shot now, and those who have received both doses do not need to get
vaccinated again. People who are at risk of mpox are eligible to receive both
shots.

City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan speaks alongside then-New York State
Health Commissioner Mary T. Bassett (left) and Raj Panjabi, then the coordinator
of the White House Pandemic Office (right), at an mpox press conference outside
of the city’s Harlem clinic on July 7, 2022.Matt Tracy

Mpox has spread primarily through sex and intimate contact among social networks
of gay men and other men who have sex with men, along with transgender people,
according to the NYC Health Department, so those groups are high on the priority
list for vaccination. Individuals with advanced HIV or are otherwise severely
immunocompromised are also among those who should get vaccinated, officials
said. 

Furthermore, anyone who has been in close contact with someone who has mpox is
at risk for infection. Watkins said those who live with someone who is in an
at-risk group can also consider vaccination. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the second shot is
administered four weeks after the first one. People are considered to have max
protection two weeks after the second dose. 

Individuals can receive the mpox vaccine at two dozen locations around the city,
including in every borough, according to the NYC Vaccine Finder website, which
is where people can find spots to get vaccinated. But Watkins cautioned that the
mpox vaccine entered the commercial market on April 1, so it is not clear
whether all shots will remain free for the foreseeable future.

According to the city’s mpox health advisory, which was distributed to
providers, no-cost federal supplies will remain available until the early
summer. Watkins said people should check with their provider if they are
interested in getting vaccinated. Providers can order non-cost vaccines by
emailing poxvax@health.nyc.gov, and the NYC Health Department expects to fulfill
requests until early summer. 

As cases started climbing in the 2022 outbreak, there were long lines for the
vaccine but limited supply of doses — and the slow response by the federal
government prompted activists to demand action from the Biden administration. 

Activists show frustration over the government’s response to mpox on July 22,
2022.Donna Aceto

Soon enough, the vaccine supply increased, but the city also dealt with its own
issues, including technological glitches in the online vaccination sign-up
system as well as racial disparities in the vaccine rollout. In an example of
the disproportionate distribution of doses, at one point in August of 2022,
Black New Yorkers had accounted for 12% of vaccine doses but 31% of the
population eligible to be vaccinated.

The response to that outbreak included stationing mobile vaccination vans next
to nightclubs and sex parties in the city. There were also flyers posted in
areas known to the LGBTQ community, including in places outside of the city,
such as Fire Island. 

Last year, as cases remained low, the city and state launched a joint mpox
awareness campaign with posters about mpox online and in locations such as
stores and medical offices. For now, at least, health officials don’t expect to
mount the same kind of awareness campaign as in 2022.

“We’re not at that level yet,” Watkins said. “Right now, the message is that we
want folks to think about prevention and we want to raise awareness, but we
don’t want to cause alarm. It’s still something to consider: As temperatures get
warmer, as folks are more interactive, [it is important to] prepare and think
about mpox prevention as part of our routine sexual health practices.”

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

MATT TRACY

Matt Tracy is Gay City News’ editor-in-chief.

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