Pols head to gay bars to discuss monkeypox – Queens Chronicle
In an effort to relay information about the monkeypox virus and vaccinations against it to members of the LGBTQ+ community, as men having sex with men make up the vast majority of cases thus far, Councilmember Lynn Schulman (D-Forest Hills) took to Jackson Heights’ gay bar scene last Friday evening for a “night of action.”
Though by 5 p.m., very few had made their way to the bars for happy hour (and few more had by 6 p.m.), Schulman, who chairs the City Council’s Committee on Health, was not completely on her own. She was joined by Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan, Councilmember Shekar Krishnan (D-Jackson Heights), as well as staff from the offices of Assemblymember Jessica González-Rojas (D-East Elmhurst) and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Jamaica).
Still, the group was in high spirits as it made stops at the historic Friend’s Tavern, True Colors and Hombres Lounge, among others.
The event comes amid a high demand citywide for monkeypox vaccines, which are in limited supply. Meanwhile, the crisis has grown in the city — where 1,092 cases had been reported as of press time — and around the world, leading the World Health Organization to declare it a global health emergency last Saturday.
For bar patrons in Jackson Heights, the most accessible vaccination site is the Corona Sexual Health Clinic, one of the city’s five mass sites and the only permanent one in Queens. But its visitors have not been limited to Queens residents; it has been reported that residents from other boroughs have flocked to Corona in hopes of getting an appointment.
Vasan was well aware of the issue, and was concerned about the equity issues vaccine distribution and site location pose.
“We’re looking at new features to restrict [appointments] by ZIP code to ensure that they’re a member of the community,” he told the Chronicle outside of Friend’s Tavern, “which is much easier to do when we have more supply, and a lot easier to do when we have more sites. And we have more sites when we have more supplies.”
Also in the name of equity, on Tuesday, Vasan pushed the WHO to rename the virus.
“NYC joins many public health experts and community leaders who have expressed their serious concern about continuing to exclusively use the term ‘monkeypox’ given the stigma it may engender, and the painful and racist history within which terminology like this is rooted for communities of color,” Vasan wrote in a letter to the WHO. Possible alternatives include “hMPXV” and “MPV.”
While the number of vaccines allocated to the city more than doubled last week with the addition of 25,693 more doses (on top of the 21,500 the city had already reserved), it’s clear that the demand is still high. Within seven minutes of the city opening registration for 17,000 appointments Friday evening, all of the slots had been filled — just as they had the previous week, when 9,200 appointments became available. When registration opened earlier that week, the city’s scheduling website crashed. Though it worked the second time, some were uneasy heading into last Friday’s registration.
“There’s always a concern with anything around that,” Schulman said shortly before appointments went live. “There’s so much demand is part of the issue.” Luckily, similar issues did not arise this time around.
In a previous interview with the Chronicle, Schulman had expressed concern about the limited amount of testing available for the virus. That seems poised to improve as Gov. Hochul announced Monday that the state Department of Health approved Quest Diagnostics’ application for PCR testing.