Health department expands list of people eligible for monkeypox vaccine – Wisconsin Examiner
More people are now eligible for the monkeypox vaccine in Wisconsin, the state health department announced Wednesday, and the vaccine is available through local and tribal health departments across the state.
The Department of Health Services (DHS) expanded its eligibility list for the shot, following updated guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). DHS said in its announcement that “the new eligibility criteria allow for more people who may be at a higher risk for being exposed to the monkeypox virus to get vaccinated.”
There have been 81 monkeypox cases in Wisconsin identified so far as of Wednesday, according to DHS. The infection rate has been declining, but the DHS announcement said that vaccination remains an important tool to further tamp down the virus.
The monkeypox virus outbreak, which began earlier this year, has largely been among gay and bisexual men and their sexual partners. Nevertheless, public health providers have emphasized that monkeypox is not considered a sexually transmitted disease, but rather one transmitted by close contact, typically skin to skin, and can spread without sexual contact.
Recent CDC research has found that people at risk for monkeypox but who have not received the vaccine were 14 times more likely to become infected than those who were vaccinated, health officials reported. The vaccine is given in two doses, and both doses confer maximum protection, according to DHS.
The vaccine is being recommended only for people at the highest risk of infection. It is not available to other members of the general public. DHS has a web page for information on the vaccine as well as a directory to local or tribal health departments that can direct people to nearby vaccine locations. Vaccine information is also available by dialing 211.
According to DHS, people of color have been disproportionately affected by the monkeypox virus, while their vaccination rates have been significantly lower than for the white population.
“Expanding who is eligible to get vaccinated is an important step to promoting health equity and ensuring all Wisconsinites can protect themselves against monkeypox,” the DHS announcement states.
Eligible high-risk individuals include known contacts of people who have been infected as well as sexual partners of people who have been diagnosed in the previous 14 days with monkeypox.
Also at high risk in the current outbreak are gay men, bisexual men, trans men and women, other men who have sex with men as well as gender non-conforming or non-binary people who have had recent multiple or anonymous sexual partners.
Newly added to the eligibility list for the vaccine are people who have been recently diagnosed with sexually transmitted diseases.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX