NYC to receive 10% of federal monkeypox vaccine order despite high local case load
New York City will receive about 10% of a new batch of monkeypox vaccine doses secured by the federal government, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office said Thursday, frustrating some local officials who pushed for the city to receive a larger piece of vaccine pie.
Through Wednesday, around 25% of the nation’s confirmed monkeypox cases had been reported in New York City, according to government data. The federal government has been sluggish in its efforts to distribute jabs for the excruciatingly painful but rarely fatal disease.
A man receives a vaccine against Monkeypox from a health professional at a vaccination center in Paris on Wednesday July 27, 2022. (Alain Jocard/)
But on Wednesday, federal health authorities announced the approval of some 786,000 new doses of the Jynneos vaccine to be distributed across the U.S. About 310,000 doses had been delivered as of last week, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Xavier Becerra, the health secretary, said in a statement that the expansion of supply marked a “critical step” in the federal monkeypox response.
Monkeypox, historically confined to Africa, is believed to primarily spread through intimate contact and first emerged in New York City in May. Manhattan has been hit hard, and the virus has predominately spread in men who have sex with men, according to the city Health Department.
Feds approve 800,000 more doses of monkeypox vaccine, tripling national supply
Schumer’s office said New York City had landed roughly 80,000 doses, with the rest of the state receiving another 30,000, for a total of 110,000 shots. The vaccine, produced by the Denmark company Bavarian Nordic, was in transit to New York on Thursday, Schumer’s office said.
“For weeks, I have been on the phone with each and every agency working to overcome monkeypox,” Schumer, a New York Democrat, said in a statement. “We know our biggest hurdle right now is that we need more vaccines.”
Healthcare workers with New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene help people register for the monkeypox vaccine at one of the City's vaccination sites, Tuesday, July 26, 2022, in New York. (Mary Altaffer/)
In the statement, Schumer acknowledged the federal government has “more work to do to fully contain the monkeypox threat,” but said New Yorkers waiting for jabs should breathe a “huge sigh of relief.”
But other local lawmakers added a different kind of sigh.
“It took the federal government 2½ months to finally bring a substantial number of vaccines to New York City,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres, a Bronx Democrat who is gay. “It’s the best news we’ve heard in 2½ months. But the 100,000 falls short of what would be New York City’s fair share.”
“I have been outraged by the sheer incompetence of the federal government’s response,” Torres said by phone. “And I wish more people were outraged by it.”
Rep. Mondaire Jones, who is also gay, said in a statement that the new doses offered a “a good start, but New York City will need more doses to stop monkeypox.”
“We account for over a quarter of cases nationwide, but we’re only getting 10% of the national vaccine supply,” Jones, a Brooklyn Democrat, said in the statement. “Federal inaction must not cost LGBTQ+ lives.”
The announcement of the new doses came as state Health Commissioner Mary Bassett on Thursday declared monkeypox an imminent threat to public health in New York.
“Based on the ongoing spread of this virus, which has increased rapidly and affected primarily communities that identify as men who have sex with men, and the need for local jurisdictions to administer vaccines, I’ve declared monkeypox an Imminent Threat to Public Health throughout New York State,” Bassett said in a statement.
As of Wednesday, New York City had reported 1,148 monkeypox cases, 93% of the statewide total. The nationwide tally stood at 4,639, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The numbers are seen as undercounts due to testing access challenges.
Local officials have pushed the federal government for weeks to increase the number of vaccine doses sent to New York.
In a call two weeks ago with Becerra and Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, Mayor Adams pushed for vaccine distribution “proportional to the current burden of disease here in New York City,” he said in a statement.
And last week, Manhattan Borough Mark Levine took to Twitter to declare that New York City deserves its “fair share of vaccine.”
“The CDC must provide us with a share matching our level of need,” Levine, the former chair of the City Council’s health committee, wrote in a thread of posts.
On Friday, Adams’ administration said it was rushing to get as many doses as possible to fight the monkeypox scourge.
“New York City is currently the epicenter,” Kate Smart, a spokeswoman for City Hall, said in a statement, adding, “we estimate that nearly 150,000 New Yorkers may be at risk.”
