FILE – A health professional prepares a dose of a monkeypox vaccine at the Edison municipal vaccination centre in Paris Wednesday July 27, 2022.
San Francisco will receive another 1,600 vials of monkeypox vaccine in the coming days, making some 8,000 doses available to high-risk residents, the city's public health department said Monday.
As a condition of the allocation, vaccine clinics at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and other locations will begin administering monkeypox vaccines just under the skin rather than into muscle or fat tissue.
Intradermal vaccination - which the U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized earlier this month for the Jynneos vaccine for smallpox and monkeypox - offers similar immunity to standard vaccination methods and requires one-fifth of the normally required dosage.
People who are currently eligible for the vaccine including men who have sex with men who have had multiple sexual partners in the prior 14 days, sex workers and anyone who has had close contact with someone who is suspected or confirmed to have contracted monkeypox.
Vaccine doses remain in short supply, which has prompted public health officials to recommend administration of the first of the vaccine's two doses to as many eligible people as possible to ensure they have at least a modicum of protection against the virus.
Once more vaccine doses are available, those who have already received their first dose will be eligible for their second dose, but that could take longer than the vaccine's standard four-week waiting period between doses.
According to the SFDPH, the city has received roughly 23,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine. The city has requested 35,000 doses to meet its initial demand.
The virus has mostly been spread via skin-to-skin contact. Nearly one-quarter of the state's 2,660 suspected to confirmed cases have been reported in San Francisco. Los Angeles County is the only jurisdiction with more reported cases.
Health officials have urged residents to take steps to reduce their risk of contracting monkeypox, including avoiding physical contact or sharing clothing or bedding with those who have a rash or lesions consistent with monkeypox.
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Monkeypox can initially develop like the flu, with symptoms including a fever, headache, muscle aches, exhaustion and enlarged lymph nodes. Painful lesions or a rash can also appear.
Monkeypox generally lasts up to two to four weeks, can resolve on its own without treatment and is rarely fatal. To date, just 62 reported monkeypox patients have been hospitalized, according to state data.
Walk-in vaccinations are available through Friday this week at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Health care providers like Kaiser Permanente and University of California, San Francisco, are also providing vaccinations via appointment.
Information about monkeypox how to get vaccinated in San Francisco can be found at https://sf.gov/information/monkeypox.
