San Francisco Clinics Will Likely Run Out Of Monkeypox Vaccine This Week, Health Officials Say

By Madison Hirneisen | The Center Square, The Center Square California

July 25, 2022

(The Center Square) – As cases of monkeypox continue to rise nationally, San Francisco health officials said Wednesday that clinics administering monkeypox vaccines are likely to run out of supplies by the end of this week.

Thus far, the city has administered more than 1,700 doses of the Monkeypox vaccine to San Franciscans, but supplies are dwindling. Officials announced that Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital's monkeypox clinic had 50 remaining vaccines Wednesday that would be dispersed on a first-come, first-served basis. Other clinics are expected to run out of vaccines this week.

"The city’s Department of Public Health received 2,300 doses last week from federal supplies and have requested 35,000 additional doses from federal supplies to bolster the vaccination effort," officials said.

“SFDPH acknowledges that there are many gay and bisexual men, transgendered people and others in the LGBTQ+ community who need protection from monkeypox, and that vaccine supplies are inadequate,” the department said in a news release.

"There are currently 68 monkeypox cases among San Francisco residents (probable and confirmed)," according to health officials. "Statewide, California has 186 probable and confirmed cases as of Tuesday," according to the California Department of Public Health.

"Symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle aches and a rash that looks like pimples or blisters that can appear on the face, inside the mouth or on other parts of the body," according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Monkeypox spreads person to person through direct contact with the rash or through “respiratory secretions during prolonged face-to-face contact,” according to the CDC.

Many impacted by the current global outbreak are part of the LGBTQ+ community, though anyone can get the virus if they are exposed to an infected person.

Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, said the responsibility for limited vaccine supply rests on the federal government, saying federal officials “failed to order the millions of doses that should have been ordered in preparation for an inevitable outbreak.”

"The Food and Drug Administration approved a vaccine to prevent smallpox and monkeypox infection in 2019, but federal officials only ordered enough supply for 28,000 people to be vaccinated," according to Wiener.

“Due to a lack of vaccine supply – and what will continue to be a sluggish pace of vaccination due to limited supply going forward – we are veering toward a public health mess of uncontrolled monkeypox spread in our community and many other communities,” Wiener said in a statement. “Failure to control this outbreak will result in intense – and completely unnecessary – misery for many people, particularly gay and bisexual men.”

Outside of San Francisco, several other areas in California have reported cases of monkeypox. "As of Wednesday, Los Angeles County had 70 probable and confirmed cases, and Sacramento County reported 10 probable cases as of Tuesday," according to KCRA.

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