San Francisco running out of monkeypox vaccine, requests help from federal government
SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco public health officials said Wednesday they are running out of monkeypox vaccines and are urgently requesting additional ones from the federal government.
The city's Department of Public Health received 2,308 doses of the Jynneos vaccine last week from federal supplies and distributed them to sites around the city, but many of those sites were already close to running out, with Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital having only 50 doses left as of Wednesday morning at its monkeypox clinic.
City officials said the monkeypox clinic there will have to shutter once the last doses are administered and remain closed until more vaccines arrive.
As of Wednesday, there have been 68 probable and confirmed monkeypox cases in San Francisco. The virus is spread through skin-to-skin contact or bodily fluids, and symptoms can include a rash or sores on the skin, as well as flu-like symptoms.
Public health officials noted that many in the LGBTQ community in particular have sought out the vaccine. State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, criticized the federal government's response to monkeypox and said "failure to control this outbreak will result in intense -- and completely unnecessary -- misery for many people, particularly gay and bisexual men."
Wiener also tweeted his criticism of the federal government response.
SF is running out of monkeypox vaccine & SF General vaccine clinic will temporarily close after today.
— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) July 13, 2022
While SF will receive additional doses, these stops & starts are unsustainable & will lead to uncontrolled spread.
The federal government caused this shortage. My statement: pic.twitter.com/L94GjvjMUe
Wiener cited reports of a million doses sitting in storage in a facility in Denmark because the U.S. failed to do a timely inspection of the site and its certification expired as an example of the federal government's inadequate response to the virus.
"We need an enormous amount of additional vaccine doses, and we need it immediately. The federal government's failures are threatening to deeply harm our community. Once we move past this emergency, we need accountability for these failures -- failures that put people's lives and health in jeopardy," Wiener said.
Information on San Francisco's response to monkeypox, including vaccine locations, health guidance and current case counts, can be found at the San Francisco Department of Public Health website and the San Francisco City Government web page on monkeypox.