With a near doubling of monkeypox cases over the past week in Georgia, state health officials are struggling to keep up with demand for vaccines to fight the virus.
On Friday, the Georgia Department of Public Health confirmed 93 monkeypox cases in the state, up from 48 on July 13, all among men living in metro Atlanta. As more commercial labs have begun handling tests for monkeypox, the confirmed number of cases is rising quickly here and around the world.
There have been no U.S. deaths from the virus, which appeared in May in Europe and the U.S. As of Thursday, there have been 1,470 confirmed cases of monkeypox virus in U.S. residents this year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Georgia has received approximately 3,000 doses of vaccine – enough for 1,500 people to receive the two-dose series. Allocations of the monkeypox vaccine from the federal government will increase as production of the vaccine ramps up.
The Fulton County Board of Health held an event last weekend to administer 200 doses of the monkeypox vaccines. Appointments for the vaccines filled up within hours. There are two more vaccine events scheduled in Fulton and Gwinnett counties but those slots are already full, according to the health departments.
The state agency said they are prioritizing vaccine distribution in five metro counties — Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb, and Clayton. There is no residency requirement.
With the extremely limited vaccine supply, doctors need to request the vaccine on a case-by-case basis for their patients through the state health department. The monkeypox vaccine can help prevent illness, and also reduce the severity of the disease for those already infected.
Georgia’s first-ever case was announced in early June. While several of the cases here are associated with either international travel or traveling to a recent conference in Chicago, more recent cases were not associated with travel, according to DPH.
Endemic in parts of Africa, the virus doesn’t usually spread easily among people, concerning global health officials. While most cases so far are among men who have sex with men, health officials emphasize that anyone can contract the virus through close personal contact.
U.S. health officials recently announced it was expanding the pool of people who are advised to get vaccinated to include those who may realize on their own that they could have been infected. That can include men who have sex with men who have recently had multiple sex partners in a venue where there was known to be monkeypox or in an area where monkeypox is spreading.
Monkeypox causes flu-like symptoms such as fever and chills, and a rash that can take weeks to clear.
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