Tarrant County has a limited supply of monkeypox vaccines. How to see if you qualify

Ciara McCarthy
Seth Wenig/AP

Tarrant County has received thousands of doses of the monkeypox vaccine to protect the people at highest risk of contracting the virus.

As monkeypox continues to spread, providers are scrambling to quickly vaccinate people who are most at risk of becoming infected. The virus is rarely fatal but can cause debilitating pain in some patients.

As of Aug. 23, there have been 93 confirmed cases of the disease in Tarrant County, according to the county’s public health department. But there are likely additional cases in the community because diagnosing a case requires getting a sample from a patient’s lesion. If a patient hasn’t noticed any lesions yet or doesn’t realize that a pustule or scab might be a sign of monkeypox, they might not know to seek testing.

In Texas, monkeypox vaccines are being distributed from the federal government to the state health department, which then distributes vials of vaccines to local and regional health departments, like Tarrant County Public Health. (Houston receives its shipment of vaccine separately from the rest of the state.) The county public health department is distributing the vaccine itself, as well as sending it to providers in the county like the HELP Center for LGBT Wellness and JPS Health Network.

DeeJay Johannessen, the CEO of the HELP Center, estimated that the center was probably the largest monkeypox vaccinator because of its patient load.

Who is eligible for the vaccine and where to learn more

If you have a personal doctor, Tarrant County Public Health recommends you call them if you think you might have been exposed to monkeypox or if you notice rashes or lesions on your body or swollen lymph nodes.

But realistically, Johannesson said, most doctors in Tarrant County won’t have access to limited supply of the monkeypox vaccine, and many might be unfamiliar with the disease because, before the outbreak, cases in the U.S. were very rare.

“Quite honestly, their providers can’t get it because they don’t have a large enough patient load,” Johannesson said.

People who think they have a case or who have known exposure can call the Tarrant County Public Health Department’s hotline on weekdays between to learn more about getting diagnosed and getting a vaccine if they qualify. Call 817-248-6299 and press 4 to learn more about monkeypox.

The following groups of people may be eligible for a monkeypox vaccine, according to Tarrant County Public Health:

  • If you have been identified by TCPH as a contact of someone with monkeypox in the last 14 days.

  • If you have had two or more sexual partners in the last 14 days.

  • If you have had direct or extended intimate physical contact in the last 14 days with someone who tested positive for monkeypox.

  • If you have had anonymous sex in the last 14 days.

  • If you work in health care or in a laboratory and are involved in the diagnosis or handling of monkeypox specimens.

How to get more information

If you have questions about monkeypox or access to the vaccine, you can call the Tarrant County Public Health call center on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Call 817-248-6299 and press 4 for information about monkeypox.

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