Officials from the White House, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced in an Aug. 30 press release that it was working with organizers of three September LGBTQ+ events to quickly distribute monkeypox (MPV) vaccines and additional supports for attendees.
The events include Southern Decadence in New Orleans (Sept. 1-5), Atlanta Black Pride (Sept. 2-4) and Oakland (California) Pride and Pridefest (Sept. 4 and 11). The administration will provide each of the localities with additional doses of MPV vaccine.
Additionally, the administration announced an equity pilot program centering individuals at elevated risk of contracting MPV. Under those auspices the administration sets aside 10,000 vials of vaccine that health departments can request be used for smaller-scale equity interventions. Up to 100 vials per jurisdiction can be used at up to five equity-related interventions.
Those interventions include "distribution from community-based clinics that may not have been reached by the current vaccine supply, distribution at smaller events and in venues reaching Black and Latino LGBTQI+, and distribution to communities identified locally as a priority based on local epidemiology of MPV," according to the release.
Jurisdictions qualify for the interventions support once they have exhausted 50% of their already-received vaccine supply.
