Local health department holds community-based monkeypox vaccination clinics – KBIA

Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services will be holding several community-based monkeypox vaccination clinics in the coming weeks.

This is due to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expanding the eligibility criteria for those who can get the vaccine to focus more on pre-exposure.

The full list of those eligible can be found below.

Trina Teacutter, the Nursing Supervisor for the Health Department, said she’s hoping these upcoming community clinics will help them reach more people.

“Hopefully [it’s] a place where folks will feel comfortable and safe and you know, all of those important things when they’re coming to get vaccinated,” Teacutter said.

According to the CDC, Missouri has diagnosed 152 cases of monkeypox since reporting began, and Teacutter said there has only been six cases confirmed locally, but this is likely an undercount.

“I’m sure there are other cases in the community that we’re not aware of. If it’s a mild case, you know, folks, just like with flu, or COVID, they may not go to the doctor. They may not get tested, but they may still have it and still be able to spread that to other people,” Teacutter said. “And so the more vaccines we can get out there, the safer we are as a whole.”

The Health Department held their first community-based clinic on Wednesday at Arch & Column Pub. They will be holding two by-appointment clinics at the Health Department this Saturday, October 22, and on Thursday, October 27.

The next walk-in community clinic will be held at the Center Project on Saturday, October 29.

“The more people we can get vaccinated for something, the less we’re going to see,” Teacutter said. “And that’s the goal, you know, we’d like to have zero cases and not have any more cases going forward. And I think the best, one of the best ways to do that, of course, is through vaccination.”

For more information on the expanded criteria or upcoming clinics, click here.

The full list of expanded eligibility criteria, per the Health Department website:

• Gay, bisexual, another identifier of men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender, or nonbinary [people] and in the past 6 months have had more than one sex partner.
• Gay, bisexual, another identifier of men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender, or nonbinary [people] and in the past 6 months have received a new diagnosis of a nationally reportable sexually transmitted disease (i.e., acute HIV, chancroid, chlamydia, gonorrhea, or syphilis).
• Had a sex partner, or personal/intimate skin-to-skin contact in the past 14 days with someone who received a monkeypox diagnosis.
• Engaged in sex in a social and/or sexual venue in the past 6 months such as a bar, party, sex shop, adult theatre, darkroom, or engaged in cruising or anonymous sex.
• In the past 6 months have had sex at a commercial sex venue or in association with an event, venue, or defined geographic area where monkeypox transmission has been reported. This includes sex within kink or fetish groups, or sex while traveling for an event such as a concert, sporting event, festival, or other community event such as a pride event, or engaged in sex work.
• Have a partner who in the last six months has experienced any of the above risks.
• Anticipate potentially experiencing any of the above risks.

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