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New York City made available another batch of monkeypox vaccines on Tuesday, health officials said, but the website for appointments crashed within minutes due to excessive demand.
About 267 New Yorkers have already tested positive for monkeypox, a virus similar to smallpox with mild symptoms.
About 7,000 doses of Jynneos vaccine have been made available in New York City since June 23. Another 14,500 vaccines are expected later this week.
Workers sit outside DC Health’s first monkeypox vaccination clinic, which is administering the first Jynneos vaccine dose to be distributed in the US capital on June 28, 2022 in Washington, US.
(Reuters/Gavino Gare)
“We will advise New Yorkers when more appointments can be made,” the New York City Department of Health tweeted Tuesday afternoon.
“We apologize for the disappointment and are working to build stable placement infrastructure as we begin more appointments in the coming weeks as vaccine supplies increase.”
On Tuesday, Washington DC Health announced that residents can pre-register for the monkeypox vaccine online.
According to the agency, those who have already registered will receive an email invitation to make an appointment once it becomes available. On Thursday, July 14, 3,000 appointments will be available for eligible residents of the district.
In addition to being over 18 years of age and a Washington DC resident, eligible vaccine candidates must fit one of the following descriptions:
- gay, bisexual and other men 18 years of age and older who have sex with men and have had multiple sexual partners or an unknown sexual partner in the past 14 days
- Transgender women or non-binary persons assigned male at birth who have sex with men
- sex worker
- Employees in establishments where sexual activity takes place, including bathrooms, saunas, sex clubs
Vaccine appointments are free and subject to availability. Residents who do not meet the requirement are encouraged to pre-register. If there is an extension of eligibility, those already registered will first be informed of the available appointments.
In Chicago, the virus was first detected a month earlier. Since then, 105 Chicagoans have been diagnosed with the virus, health officials said.
Officials said the cases mostly involved men who had sex with men. The city has started offering targeted vaccinations.
Chicago Public Health Department deputy commissioner of disease control Massimo Pacilli said the city has already received 5,409 doses of monkeypox vaccine from the federal government. The distribution is targeted at who may be at greater risk because of their sexual activity.
According to CDC data, 929 cases of monkeypox have been reported in dozens of states across the country.
Singapore confirms first local case of monkeypox infection
The first commercial trials for monkeypox began in the US last week as health officials scramble to monitor the virus.
The White House announced that 1.6 million doses of Genios vaccine will be available by the end of this year.
In this handout graphic from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, symptoms of one of the first known cases of monkeypox virus are shown on the arm of a patient.
(CDC/Getty Images)
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More than 10,000 cases have been detected around the world since May, prompting the World Health Organization to reconstitute a committee early next week to determine whether the outbreak should be treated as a global health emergency. Label should be given or not.
Symptoms of monkeypox include fever, chills and fatigue, followed by rashes that develop into sores.