The announcement comes after the department put meetings on hold on Thursday due to a limited supply of the vaccine.
HOUSTON – The Houston Department of Health is reopening monkeypox vaccine appointments after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday a shipment of 16,000 doses to the area.
The announcement comes after the department put meetings on hold on Thursday due to a limited supply of the vaccine.
CONNECTED: Houston to receive more than 16,000 monkeypox vaccines in coming weeks as US ramps up response
The supply will be donated to the city, which will be distributed to Harris County and other clinics. This comes after the nation promised to step up its response and provide more vaccines to every state in the US
“Our goal is to stay ahead of this virus and end this outbreak. We have a strategy to deploy these additional vaccine doses in a way that protects those at risk and limits the spread of the virus, while also working with states to ensure equitable and fair distribution,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. These vaccines are the result of years of federal investment and planning.”
In addition to the more than 16,000 monkeypox vaccines coming to Houston, another 41,840 will be delivered to the state of Texas as a whole. It is not known which cities are receiving those vaccines.
On Thursday, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo sent a letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, requesting additional vaccines.
“We are eager to vaccinate at-risk populations before the virus spreads exponentially, rather than waiting for exponential growth and then catching up as other jurisdictions should,” Hidalgo tweeted along with the letter sent to the CDC.
Currently, vaccines are available for two different groups:
- Group 1 — People who have had contact with someone with monkeypox and those who have gone to a place where there has been high-risk exposure to the virus, either through skin-to-skin contact or sexual contact.
- Group 2 – Those at high risk of contracting the virus, including those diagnosed with gonorrhea and early syphilis in the past three months. It also includes people who have attended or worked at a sex-trafficking site in the past 21 days. This group also includes those taking HIV prevention medication, known as PrEP.
CONNECTED: When should you be tested for monkeypox?
HCPH there is a monkeypox hotline. Residents with questions about monkeypox testing, vaccinations and more are encouraged to call 832-927-0707.
According to Texas Department of State Health Servicesthere have been 105 confirmed cases of monkeypox throughout the Houston area since July 29. There have been 338 cases in Texas.
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