New York City's monkeypox outbreak surged another 26% in one day, and the city is once again out of vaccine appointments - raising questions about how much worse things could get in the coming weeks.
Cases are now doubling here every five days. The city represents more than a quarter of all U.S. infections, according to CDC data, and more than 2% of all current infections worldwide.
But the latest round of vaccine appointments ran out almost immediately on Tuesday after a wave of errors left many people unable to even access the booking website, and the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said it could only hope for more shots "in the near future."
Mayor Eric Adams, calling the city the "epicenter of the Monkeypox epidemic," said Wednesday he'd asked the CDC and Department of Health and Human Services to ensure more vaccine distribution.
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The city reported a total of 336 cases as of Wednesday, which is nearly triple what it was week ago. More testing is coming online quickly, but the shots to prevent the virus aren't keeping up.
The latest hiccup is one in a string of problems the city has experienced since it started to rollout the monkeypox vaccine.
Getting hands on a vaccine has been difficult -- only a few thousand appointments have opened in the past few weeks.
"We truly wish we had more," said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, as she pushed for more help from the federal government.
There will be 5,100 doses soon heading to the state, and 14,000 more to NYC. But Hochul cautioned it's still not enough.
"What I’ve conveyed to the White House is that we’ve received about 14 percent of doses allocated nationwide, but we have more than 14 percent of the nation's cases," she said this week.
One New York City Councilmember who represents the outbreak's epicenter in Chelsea called on the government to accelerate the process of getting vaccines out of a factory in Denmark - where they are apparently in limbo because its FDA inspection expired.
"The U.S. let the Denmark plant’s good standing certification with the U.S. lapse, and none of the doses can be delivered until the FDA conducts a new inspection/review — even though 1M shots are already vialed, labeled and ready for delivery," Erik Bottcher tweeted Wednesday morning. "The FDA has apparently conducted the inspection and is currently reviewing. This was supposed to happen months from now but the Biden admin is doing it now. If the FDA can’t authorize this in the next few days, Biden should overrule the FDA and accept the E.U.’s certification."
While monkeypox is contagious and typically confined to the African continent, health officials say the risk to the general U.S. public is low. They say this isn't COVID all over again because vaccines already exist to treat orthopoxvirus, the family of viruses to which monkeypox and diseases like smallpox and chickenpox belong.
But ensuring a steady supply of the FDA-approved monkeypox vaccine is a problem. And it's causing other headaches, too.
But how does the monkeypox vaccine even work? It's a two-dose vaccination process like many others, though the vaccine supply issue may mean some New Yorkers have to wait an extra week or two to get their next layers of protection against monkeypox.
City Hall has now formally asked the Biden Administration to delay those second doses, precisely so it can get more first doses in arms while supply is constrained.
At this point, eligibility in New York City is limited to "gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men and transgender, gender non-conforming or gender non-binary persons ages 18 and older who have had multiple or anonymous sex partners in the last 14 days," under the guidelines released by the health department. Learn more here.
On Long Island, Suffolk County opened an online monkeypox portal for vaccination appointments Monday. In less than two hours, all 750 available appointment slots had been filled, with all the doses to be given out at two locations on Fire Island later in the week.
There have been four confirmed cases in Suffolk County, and one in Nassau County, which has been given 400 doses to dole out. Officials at Northwell Health — which is overseeing much of the vaccine distribution on Long Island — are hopeful more doses and testing will soon be made available.
Cases are rising in Westchester as well, with plans there still up in the air.
What Is Monkeypox?
Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958, when outbreaks occurred in colonies of monkeys kept for research -- resulting in its name. (What you need to know about monkeypox.)
The first case in a human was reported in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which still has the majority of infections. Other African countries where it has been found: Cameroon, Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo and Sierra Leone.
Human symptoms of monkeypox are similar to but milder than the symptoms of smallpox, the CDC says. It presents itself as a flu-like illness accompanied by lymph-node swelling and rash on the face and body.
Monkeypox starts off with fever, headache, muscle aches, and exhaustion. Monkeypox also causes lymph nodes to swell, something that smallpox does not. The incubation period is usually 7−14 days but can range from 5−21 days.
The CDC is urging healthcare providers in the U.S. to be alert for patients who have rashes consistent with monkeypox, regardless of whether they have traveled or have specific risks for monkeypox. See more information from the travel notice here.
