Public Health expands eligibility for monkeypox vaccination

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The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has expanded monkeypox vaccination eligibility.  

Six thousand doses of JYNNEOS arrived last week, allowing for the expansion. JYNNEOS is being allotted according to the national monkeypox vaccine strategy, to provide vaccination to L.A. County residents who are at higher risk of exposure.  

Those who had access to the vaccination, prior to July 11, are: persons confirmed by Public Health to have had high- or intermediate-risk contact with someone with monkeypox, as defined by the Centers for Disease Control; or, persons who attended an event/venue where there was high risk of exposure to an individual(s) with confirmed monkeypox virus through skin-to-skin sexual contact. Public Health will work with the event/venue organizers to identify individuals at the event who may have been at risk of exposure. 

As of July 11, the following are eligible for the vaccination: patients of community STD and HIV clinics, public health centers and other community clinics across Los Angeles County who meet the clinical criteria of being a gay or bisexual man or transgender woman who is a patient of an STD clinic with a diagnosis of rectal gonorrhea or early syphilis within the past three months; a limited number of high-risk individuals identified by clinical staff at Men’s Central Jail.  

The vaccination is only available by invitation to selected groups of people identified through Public Health investigation.  

Residents who have been contacted by Public Health or clinic partners are not able to be vaccinated at this time.  

The federal government anticipates additional doses to be distributed later this month. 

The monkeypox virus can be spread by touching monkeypox lesions on a person’s skin, touching contaminated objects, fabrics (clothing, bedding, towels) and surfaces that have been in contact with someone with monkeypox, and coming into contact with respiratory droplets or secretions from the eyes, nose and mouth from a person with monkeypox. 

To avoid monkeypox, people should avoid sexual or intimate contact, close contact and touching and sharing of fabrics, surfaces and objects with someone who has monkeypox.  

 For more information, visit bit.ly/3yZGkEf.  

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