Here is how to get a vaccine as more doses arrive in the city in the next few weeks and become available to people at risk for the disease.
Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency as cases of monkeypox continued to increase rapidly in New York. The outbreak has been concentrated in New York City and reached close to 1,400 cases across the state on Friday, according to the governor’s disaster declaration. The executive order authorizes state agencies to help localities respond to the outbreak. According to state officials, it extends the pool of people who are eligible to administer vaccines, adding emergency responders, pharmacists and midwives. The order also makes it easier for physicians and nurse practitioners to give people shots. And it requires providers to send vaccine data to the New York State Department of Health.
The governor said on Twitter that it would allow the state “to respond more swiftly” to the outbreak. Earlier in the week, officials announced that the state would receive 110,000 additional doses of the monkeypox vaccine from the federal government. More than 1,100 people in New York City had tested positive for the monkeypox virus as of late July nearly all of them adult men. Here’s what you need to know about getting a monkeypox vaccine in New York City.
In the current epidemic, monkeypox has spread mainly through close physical contact with an infected person. In New York, the virus has been primarily spreading among men who have sex with men. It causes rashes and pustules to form, and its primary mode of transmission is through direct physical contact with sores. It can also spread through contaminated objects from a patient, such as bedsheets and clothing, and via respiratory droplets. Researchers have found the virus in bodily fluids like saliva, urine and semen, but there is still debate over whether it is transmitted sexually or just through skin-to-skin contact.
Source: This news is originally published by nytimes