San Francisco, very vulnerable to monkeypox, is “literally begging” for vaccines

“Gay and bisexual men have once again failed by the federal government,” Mandelman said on the steps of the city hall, recalling memories of the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. He was joined by the city’s highest health authorities, Dr. Grant Corfax and Dr. Susan Philip, as well as representatives of other communities at high risk of monkeypox, including transgender people and sex workers.

“If monkeypox did not primarily affect the people of Queer, would monkeypox receive a stronger reaction?” Mandelman asked rhetorically, with supporters screaming.

He and other speakers said that not only in the early days of the HIV epidemic (when the government was slow to respond to public health emergencies that mainly hit gay men), but also federal authorities made coronavirus vaccines. I also compared it with the COVID-19 pandemic. Make it easily available to everyone.

San Francisco public health experts said they haven’t seen the Federal Reserve give equal priority to monkeypox.

“We are literally asking our federal partners to provide more vaccines,” said Corfax, who said the city’s health department has received only 2,888 vaccines from the state since early June. By the end of this week, I had 2,300 vaccines.

Still, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation Monkeypox Hotline hangs up, saying, “I get one or two calls every minute.” Monkeypox Virtual City Hall from 6 pm to 7 pm on Tuesday evening.

According to the CDC, 866 monkeypox cases have been reported nationwide, of which 148 have been reported in California. Of the state cases, 40% are in San Francisco, doubling to 60 last month.

On Tuesday, Dr. Erica Pan, a state epidemiologist at the California Department of Public Health, revealed that scientists had detected monkeypox in a wastewater monitoring system in the Bay Area.

“This means there are far more illnesses than we are aware of,” she said in an online health update.

According to Pan, the state is primarily for people exposed to monkeypox: laboratory workers performing tests, doctors treating infected patients, and those who attended events where someone confirmed the case. He is said to be giving a vaccine called Jynneos.

Smallpox cousin, Illness is generally not fatal, And most people recover without treatment. However, the painful lesions can last for weeks. Other symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, and chills.

Children and people with medical conditions that make them more vulnerable can have more serious cases.

Dr. Peter Chin Hong, a UCSF infection expert who appeared with bread, said two patients were hospitalized for monkeypox at UCSF.

Unlike COVID-19, monkeypox is usually not transmitted via respiratory droplets, but can be transmitted by kissing or breathing at close range. It spreads primarily through intimate contact, and so far most cases have been reported among male-to-male partners.

The White House Vaccine strategy On June 28, he said he would allocate 296,000 times “in the next few weeks” and 1.6 million times “in the next few months.”

Note that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has stated that it will purchase additional vaccines sufficient to fully vaccinate approximately 2 million people by 2023, and Mandelman said that alone is not enough. I did.

In the United States, more than 4.5 million men say they have sex with other men. 2016 survey It is published in the journal JMIRP Public Health and Surveillance. According to the same study, in San Francisco, 18.5% of men have sex with other men.

Another problem is that you have to wait 5-7 days for the monkeypox test results. Because people can infect the virus before they notice it. Here he joined Mandelman.

Philip, the city’s health director, blamed the test problem for a state-level bottleneck, but said a new lab was open and “wants to speed up the process.”

Mandelman’s resolution requires the supervisory board to request the CDC to publish a vaccine prioritization plan “based on the risk of transmitting the virus and medical vulnerability.”

The Board also urges the Department of Health and Human Services to purchase and distribute sufficient vaccines so that all at risk can easily obtain them.

The board will vote for the resolution next week.

Chronicle staff writer Catherine Ho contributed to this report..