Colorado's Latino and Black communities disproportionately affected by the monkeypox outbreak
Tri-county Health Department has been working diligently to get people at risk of monkeypox vaccinated against the virus.
"It's been busy," said Caitlin Silverstein, Nurse Manager of TCHD's Immunizations Team.
So far, most of the State's cases are in men who have sex with men as well as transgender, non-binary, or gender-diverse adults. That is who Tri-County has been vaccinating.
"It's definitely important for our high-risk populations to be vaccinated," said Silverstein.
Thursday at a press conference the Colorado Department of Health and Environment revealed that monkeypox, much like COVID is hitting some racial and ethnic communities harder than others.
They are seeing an over-representation of cases in Colorado's Latino or Hispanic population and the Black community.
For comparison, Colorado has a 67 % non-Latino population and 57% of monkeypox patients are non-Latino. Compared to 34% of Monkeypox patients being Latino while Colorado's population is only 22% of people.
Also, Colorado's population is just over 4% Black, but 12% of monkeypox patients are Black. Tri-county health is working with community organizations to spread the word to at-risk communities.
"Our hope is that working through those community organizations and working with them closely we will be reaching all of our populations that are most at risk," said Silverstein.
There is a limited supply of the monkeypox vaccine which has led to long lines, but if you are looking to get a vaccine Tri-county Health says you might luck out if you show up to one of their walk-in clinics.
"We have not reached our maximum capacity yet," said Silverstein.
Starting August 29th Tri-County clinics in Westminster and Aurora will be held from 8:30-11:30 am On Tuesdays and Thursdays, but those are appointment only. They will also have a walk-up clinic at the Castle Rock pride festival on August 27th.