So far, there have been more than 6,616 cases detected in the U.S., but that is likely an undercount. Most cases in the U.S. are concentrated in the gay and queer community, primarily among men who have sex with men.
In the current outbreak, the vast majority of people appear to be catching the virus from sexual contact. However, it's possible for the virus to spread in other ways — including through face-to-face interactions with someone or from touching a contaminated surface — but data show this is exceptionally rare and occurs primarily in households. Experts say it takes prolonged interaction or a lot of the virus to contract the disease this way.
Depends what you mean by “the administration” and “responding.” They were on it pretty quick, but it looks like a full ramp-up will take months: US waited to order the preparation of bulk stocks...
Depends what you mean by “the administration” and “responding.” They were on it pretty quick, but it looks like a full ramp-up will take months:
The US Department of Health and Human Services waited more than three weeks after the first confirmed case of monkeypox in the US to order bulk stocks of the monkeypox vaccine that the government owns and stores in Denmark be bottled and sent to the US for distribution -- in part out of concern that once those vaccines were taken out of bulk storage, they would lose years of shelf life.
[…]
In July alone, the US ordered an additional 5 million doses of the bulk supply of vaccines be bottled and sent to the US, but because of the lengthy bottling process, those also will not start arriving in the US until later this year -- with many of the does not scheduled to arrive until even 2023. Of the 6.9 million monkeypox vaccines that the US has secured so far, 1.1 million have been offered to states and local jurisdictions.
[…]
Meanwhile, the New York Times also reported that HHS seriously "miscalculated the need" for vaccines early on in the outbreak. According to the Times, by the time the government ordered the bulk stocks of the vaccine be bottled for distribution, "the vaccine's Denmark-based manufacturer, Bavarian Nordic, had booked other clients and was unable to do the work for months."
To speed up deliveries, the government is scrambling to find another firm to take over some of the bottling, capping and labeling of frozen bulk vaccine that is being stored in large plastic bags at Bavarian Nordic’s headquarters outside Copenhagen. Because that final manufacturing phase, known as fill and finish, is highly specialized, experts estimate it will take another company at least three months to gear up. Negotiations are ongoing with Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing, a Michigan factory that has helped produce Covid-19 vaccines, to bottle 2.5 million of the doses now on order, hopefully shaving months off the timetable, according to people familiar with the situation.
Health and Human Services officials so miscalculated the need that on May 23, they allowed Bavarian Nordic to deliver about 215,000 fully finished doses that the federal government had already bought to European countries instead of holding them for the United States.
[…]
Two senior federal officials, who requested anonymity in order to speak frankly, said Mr. Biden is upset by the vaccine shortage. His administration has often touted its success delivering hundreds of millions of coronavirus shots to Americans, and is stung by criticism that a lack of foresight and management has left gay men — the prime risk group for monkeypox — unprotected.
I'm doing in my part in skipping my usual orgies, esp here in the epicenter of SF. 💪🏼 I've heard the argument that the focus on the gay community will stigmatize non-gay people from getting...
I'm doing in my part in skipping my usual orgies, esp here in the epicenter of SF. 💪🏼
I've heard the argument that the focus on the gay community will stigmatize non-gay people from getting tested. But on the other hand, gay hookup culture is undeniably jet-fueling the monkeypox epidemic. We really need to focus on getting vaccines to gay men first and fast. Straight suburban moms who think 'poppers' shoot confetti really don't need to worry right now — unless perchance they have a habit of getting down and dirty at a Comfort & Joy party.
Unless her husband is one of those down-low men who likes to sneak out to gay bathhouses occasionally. However, he's not going to front up to get a monkeypox vaccine, because monkeypox is a gay...
Straight suburban moms who think 'poppers' shoot confetti really don't need to worry right now
Unless her husband is one of those down-low men who likes to sneak out to gay bathhouses occasionally.
However, he's not going to front up to get a monkeypox vaccine, because monkeypox is a gay problem and the vaccines are for gay men, and he's not gay!
Would you mind elaborating a little on what is wrong with the statement you quoted? Are you saying that demographics is not disproportionately affected, and that the quote is flat out...
Would you mind elaborating a little on what is wrong with the statement you quoted?
Are you saying that demographics is not disproportionately affected, and that the quote is flat out misinformation?
Or are you saying that it's problematic to bring up the demographic in relation to the disease for other reasons?
I'm sorry, I must be missing whatever it is you're referring to by saying "Here we go again." Are you talking about HIV being the precedent?
EDIT:
I'm not sure why I read the comment as meaning "here we go again with this BS take" rather than "here we go again with another disease of this nature," but I think I was wrong to read it that way.
I didn't read their comment as saying that the quoted part was misinformation or problematic, but just simply referencing HIV in that this is another disease that's having a much larger effect on...
I didn't read their comment as saying that the quoted part was misinformation or problematic, but just simply referencing HIV in that this is another disease that's having a much larger effect on the same population than the general public.
I don’t know what she meant, but I’ll note that you can compare any two things and some things will be similar and other things different. I would hope that, due to the amount of progress on gay...
I don’t know what she meant, but I’ll note that you can compare any two things and some things will be similar and other things different.
I would hope that, due to the amount of progress on gay issues compared to the ‘80’s, we can talk more frankly about risks of infectious disease now?
And hopefully medical authorities can too. Contradictory messaging about what the high risk behaviors actually are for monkeypox is a good way to feed conspiracy theories and homophobia.
Yep, exactly this. I'm frustrated that the government messaging around this has been similarly vague, contradictory, and inaccurate to the messaging around HIV, and in some cases moreso (for...
Yep, exactly this. I'm frustrated that the government messaging around this has been similarly vague, contradictory, and inaccurate to the messaging around HIV, and in some cases moreso (for instance, not only is MPX not a "gay disease", it's not even an STI!) With Fauci running this response, it's quite the deja vu moment.
Although it's not exclusively sexually transmitted, it seems like a large percentage of infections do happen that way, and thinking of it as largely sexually transmitted (for now) doesn't seem...
Although it's not exclusively sexually transmitted, it seems like a large percentage of infections do happen that way, and thinking of it as largely sexually transmitted (for now) doesn't seem entirely wrong. And, I think that it's appropriate for sexually active gay men to consider themselves at risk and get vaccinated. That message needs to get out somehow. (And I think it largely has?)
Seems like we want people to have as accurate an assessment of the risks as we can manage, with the understanding that risk assessments will change as more becomes known about the disease and also as the disease spreads to different groups.
A couple of examples of how this can go wrong:
I remember a case in the '80's when there was a big controversy over a child with AIDS going to school. Some parents were afraid their kid would get infected somehow. You don't want people to be freaking out over casual contact any more than is warranted.
At the beginning of the pandemic, we had a meeting with a contractor who didn't want to shake hands with us (he did an elbow bump instead). At that time it was still thought of as being the disease from Wuhan, and my wife wondered if he had something against Asians. Turned out he was just ahead of the curve, and later we were all freaking out about casual contact.
They are different diseases, so the risks from casual contact were different.
It has, but not without a lot of pushback from a significant minority of gay men who feel that the gay community has been unfairly targeted, because monkeypox: is not a gay disease. is not a...
I think that it's appropriate for sexually active gay men to consider themselves at risk and get vaccinated. That message needs to get out somehow. (And I think it largely has?)
It has, but not without a lot of pushback from a significant minority of gay men who feel that the gay community has been unfairly targeted, because monkeypox:
is not a gay disease.
is not a sexually transmitted disease.
There are lots of gay men complaining on Reddit (and probably other social media) that this is all a beat-up to persecute us.
Of course, they're missing the point that it's not actually persecution if your community is the main group the virus is currently attacking.
Even without testing, I wonder how far can it spread without symptoms being noticed? It seems like suspicious rashes will be suspicious, and people will go to doctors, who will be looking for...
Even without testing, I wonder how far can it spread without symptoms being noticed? It seems like suspicious rashes will be suspicious, and people will go to doctors, who will be looking for this?
We don’t know why MPV is less contagious than other viruses: What is the virus receptor? Does the virus enter the cells more slowly? Is it less “sticky” and not latching on well? In very broad terms, it’s clearly not as well adapted to infect humans as other viruses. In 2017/2018, MPV substantially mutated (as viruses do). It may have mutated to become more “fit” for human infection, or it may not have. We don’t know yet.
Regardless, because of the lower contagiousness, we hypothesize that we need a higher “dosage” of virus to become infected and sick. Contact tracing data confirms this, thus far, by showing clear patterns of transmission among very close and prolonged contacts, like sexual encounters. This is consistent with data from the original 2017 outbreak in Nigeria. There is contagious virus in open lesions. Also, yesterday, the Lancet published the first compelling evidence that replicating virus is also found in semen.
U.S. moves to stretch out supplies of monkeypox vaccine (Statnews) Very good news that they are able to do this now. The FDA's unwillingness to authorize fractional doses probably caused thousands...
The FDA issued an emergency use authorization that permits people delivering the vaccine to use fractional doses — one-fifth of a full dose — via intradermal vaccination to people 18 and older. Fractional dosing has been used in the past in times of vaccine shortages; intradermal administration — depositing the vaccine into rather than under the skin — has been shown to generate strong immune responses with smaller amounts of vaccine than are used in vaccine doses administered under the skin or into a muscle.
Very good news that they are able to do this now. The FDA's unwillingness to authorize fractional doses probably caused thousands of unnecessary COVID deaths, back when COVID vaccines were scarce.
Here we go again. We have Fauci and everything.
Credit where credit is due: this administration responded after only two months instead of four full years like last time.
Depends what you mean by “the administration” and “responding.” They were on it pretty quick, but it looks like a full ramp-up will take months:
US waited to order the preparation of bulk stocks of monkeypox vaccine, in part out of concern that they would lose shelf life (CNN)
[…]
[…]
Here is an archive link for the NY Times article.
[…]
I'm doing in my part in skipping my usual orgies, esp here in the epicenter of SF. 💪🏼
I've heard the argument that the focus on the gay community will stigmatize non-gay people from getting tested. But on the other hand, gay hookup culture is undeniably jet-fueling the monkeypox epidemic. We really need to focus on getting vaccines to gay men first and fast. Straight suburban moms who think 'poppers' shoot confetti really don't need to worry right now — unless perchance they have a habit of getting down and dirty at a Comfort & Joy party.
Unless her husband is one of those down-low men who likes to sneak out to gay bathhouses occasionally.
However, he's not going to front up to get a monkeypox vaccine, because monkeypox is a gay problem and the vaccines are for gay men, and he's not gay!
On the bright side, in that case her monkeypox won't even be her #1 life problem. :D
Well that's one way to let us know you're cancelling your RSVP, could have just used the website like the rest of us.
Would you mind elaborating a little on what is wrong with the statement you quoted?
Are you saying that demographics is not disproportionately affected, and that the quote is flat out misinformation?
Or are you saying that it's problematic to bring up the demographic in relation to the disease for other reasons?
I'm sorry, I must be missing whatever it is you're referring to by saying "Here we go again." Are you talking about HIV being the precedent?
EDIT:
I'm not sure why I read the comment as meaning "here we go again with this BS take" rather than "here we go again with another disease of this nature," but I think I was wrong to read it that way.
I didn't read their comment as saying that the quoted part was misinformation or problematic, but just simply referencing HIV in that this is another disease that's having a much larger effect on the same population than the general public.
I don’t know what she meant, but I’ll note that you can compare any two things and some things will be similar and other things different.
I would hope that, due to the amount of progress on gay issues compared to the ‘80’s, we can talk more frankly about risks of infectious disease now?
And hopefully medical authorities can too. Contradictory messaging about what the high risk behaviors actually are for monkeypox is a good way to feed conspiracy theories and homophobia.
Yep, exactly this. I'm frustrated that the government messaging around this has been similarly vague, contradictory, and inaccurate to the messaging around HIV, and in some cases moreso (for instance, not only is MPX not a "gay disease", it's not even an STI!) With Fauci running this response, it's quite the deja vu moment.
Although it's not exclusively sexually transmitted, it seems like a large percentage of infections do happen that way, and thinking of it as largely sexually transmitted (for now) doesn't seem entirely wrong. And, I think that it's appropriate for sexually active gay men to consider themselves at risk and get vaccinated. That message needs to get out somehow. (And I think it largely has?)
Seems like we want people to have as accurate an assessment of the risks as we can manage, with the understanding that risk assessments will change as more becomes known about the disease and also as the disease spreads to different groups.
A couple of examples of how this can go wrong:
I remember a case in the '80's when there was a big controversy over a child with AIDS going to school. Some parents were afraid their kid would get infected somehow. You don't want people to be freaking out over casual contact any more than is warranted.
At the beginning of the pandemic, we had a meeting with a contractor who didn't want to shake hands with us (he did an elbow bump instead). At that time it was still thought of as being the disease from Wuhan, and my wife wondered if he had something against Asians. Turned out he was just ahead of the curve, and later we were all freaking out about casual contact.
They are different diseases, so the risks from casual contact were different.
It has, but not without a lot of pushback from a significant minority of gay men who feel that the gay community has been unfairly targeted, because monkeypox:
is not a gay disease.
is not a sexually transmitted disease.
There are lots of gay men complaining on Reddit (and probably other social media) that this is all a beat-up to persecute us.
Of course, they're missing the point that it's not actually persecution if your community is the main group the virus is currently attacking.
FYI: @mtset
Yes, because right now current testing guidelines are primarily only testing gay* men or men who have had sex with men in the last few months.
Even without testing, I wonder how far can it spread without symptoms being noticed? It seems like suspicious rashes will be suspicious, and people will go to doctors, who will be looking for this?
It doesn’t answer those questions, but here’s what Your Local Epidemiologist had to say:
U.S. moves to stretch out supplies of monkeypox vaccine (Statnews)
Very good news that they are able to do this now. The FDA's unwillingness to authorize fractional doses probably caused thousands of unnecessary COVID deaths, back when COVID vaccines were scarce.
Yeah, until @skybrian starts posting regularly about this, Imma not gonna worry?
Edit: Three posts so far. Now I am a little worried.
I was pretty late on COVID. I didn’t post anything serious about it until February 25. I think that makes me a lagging indicator. :)
Monkeypox spreads through intimate contact. You're probably safe as long as you avoid orgies.