A collection of LGBT supportive organizations hosted a rally in New York City last week to demand a robust local, state and federal response to the monkeypox outbreak, which has disproportionately affected transgender women, gay/bi men, and other men who have sex with men.
"The Monkeypox outbreak was entirely preventable, and we hoped that our government would have learned from AIDS, and most recently, political and structural failings related to COVID-19, resulting in over a million deaths in the U.S.,” Director of Organizing with VOCAL-NY, Jawanza Williams, said in a prepared statement. "We need the U.S. governments and the city and state of NY to act to meet this moment while building infrastructure for epidemic preparedness and most immediate economic relief to people that have to quarantine for nearly a month."
PREP4All, one of the groups involved, has a long list of demands including:
- The US government must share a plan for turning 15.2 million Bavarian Nordic doses into vaccine-ready vials by July 31.
- The CDC & U.S. government must launch a large-scale provider and patient-oriented education campaign about MPX testing, treatment, and preventive vaccination.
- FDA must approve TPOXX, a ready and effective MPX treatment, through the Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) process.
A complete set of demands can be found here.
According to NYC Health as of July 22, there have been 839 cases of monkeypox in New York City and according to the CDC 2,891 across the country with 247 in Florida.
In Florida, Broward County has become ground zero for monkeypox infections and LGBT organizations like the Pride Center and SunServe have hosted vaccination drives.
Check here for info on vaccine availability.
Courtesy of Eliel Cruz.
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