NEW ORLEANS — Crescent Care, a major healthcare provider for the local LGBTQ community has run out of the Monkeypox vaccine.
“We do not know when we are receiving additional doses, nor how many we will receive if we do get more," a post on the provider’s website said.
As of Wednesday, Louisiana had 28 confirmed Monkeypox cases, most of them in the New Orleans area.
State Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joe Kanter said he’s asked the CDC to allocate more doses for Louisiana.
“We need more of that vaccine,” Kanter said. “What we want to do here is give it to people who are at risk and try and contain this spread.”
Limited vaccine supplies across the country aren’t keeping pace with the growing number of Monkeypox cases.
So far, Louisiana has received only around 1900 doses.
“We seemed to be woefully unprepared for the situation at hand,” Forum for Equality Executive Director SarahJane Guidry said. “While we look at the national and state response to this, in terms of vaccines and preparation, we’re closely monitoring that and making sure we’re engaged at every level we can be.”
Most Monkeypox patients experience fever, body aches, chills and fatigue.
People with more serious illness may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that can spread to other parts of the body.
So far, almost all cases of Monkeypox are among men who have sex with other men.
But experts have noted that Monkeypox is not considered a sexually transmitted disease, because it can be spread by close physical contact that isn’t sexual at all and that it can be spread to anyone, by anyone.
“There is a lot of talk about the LGBTQ community and Monkeypox,” Guidry said. “We want to make sure that we’re breaking down the stigma and making sure that are reactions to this are not homophobic or transphobic in any way.”
Because of the short supply, vaccine doses are now reserved primarily for those who’ve been exposed to monkeypox and certain high-risk individuals.
“I think we’re certainly going to see cases go up,” Kanter said. “We have some events coming up. Southern Decadence is coming up. There’s a lot of games coming up. All of that presents liability to us.”
Dr. Kanter said the state has requested an additional 30,000 doses of the Monkeypox vaccine.
He’s hoping they arrive before the Southern Decadence festival in New Orleans which is in the first week of September.
“We are aware of the situation and are working closely with LDH to advocate for more vaccines. Unfortunately, the federal government tightly controls vaccine supply and has not released a robust allocation for Louisiana. Right now, providers throughout the state are working with a very limited supply," a spokeswoman for the New Orleans Health department said in a statement.
"The few vaccines received by the state were prioritized for confirmed exposures or high-risk individuals, but we do not believe the number is adequate to meet our needs. We continue to communicate this regularly through a number of direct channels.”
Click here for more information about Monkeypox in Louisiana.