SAN DIEGO — San Diego County is preparing for a new vaccination strategy to protect more San Diegans from monkeypox, as vaccine supplies remain extremely low.
At a town hall Thursday night, county health leaders explored a new plan on the federal level that would change the way the monkeypox vaccine is administered.
One of the most common questions centered on why it is so hard to access the vaccine here in San Diego.
Essentially, we are dependent on the federal government, and while vaccine supply at the national level is currently low, there is a plan to increase the number of doses available.
"The supply is much, much lower than the demand," said County Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Eric McDonald. "So, we have had to essentially prioritize them."
Here in San Diego County, there are now 121 confirmed or probable cases of monkeypox.
In the latest breakdown provided by the county, all of the cases have been men, and nearly 97% have self-identified as gay or bisexual.
At Thursday's town hall, though, county health leaders stressed that this disease is not isolated to those groups.
"It is not a gay disease," said Mikie Lochner, chair of the county's HIV Planning Group. "This can affect anybody: it does not discriminate."
"When one part of the community is affected by a communicable disease that can potentially affect anybody, everybody should be concerned," Dr. McDonald added.
This week, the federal government approved a proposal to allows the vaccine to be injected between skin layers, instead of below the skin: a move that requires only one-fifth the normal vaccine.
"That might effectively quintuple the amount of vaccine that's available," Dr. McDonald said. "That is really good news,"
In anticipation of this, San Diego county has ordered the needles and other supplies needed to roll out this new method, which California's state health officer has also endorsed.
"We are also planning the training efforts to support this change in vaccine administration strategy," said County Public Health Officer, Dr. Wilma Wooten.
However, concerns have been raised as to whether a smaller amount of vaccine would be as effective.
County leaders say that, while two full vaccine doses would be optimal for extended protection against monkeypox, this smaller dose strategy is still reasonably effective.
"For this current outbreak, to have protection while this outbreak is still going on is very important," said Deputy County Public Health Officer, Dr. Anikta Kadakia. "So, being able to do this one-fifth dose to get more vaccine into more arms can be a good strategy."
If you'd like the latest updates on monkeypox from the county, you can text 'COSD MONKEYPOX' to 468-311. For more information on monkeypox, click here.
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