White House Ramps Up Monkeypox Vaccine Program Ahead of LGBT Events

Caden PearsonAugust 19, 2022

The White House announced Thursday a plan to ramp up its monkeypox vaccine distribution program ahead of upcoming LGBT pride events as U.S. cases reach over 13,500.

Ahead of large-scale LGBT events in the coming weeks and months, local and state officials will be able to request and receive additional monkeypox vaccines, according to the White House.

White House Monkeypox Response Coordinator Bob Fenton said the additional doses are on top of existing vaccine allocations.

“HHS is launching a pilot program that will provide up to 50,000 doses from the national stockpile to be made available for Pride and other events that will have high attendance of gay and bisexual men,” Fenton said in a statement.

While some LGBT pride activities have been canceled, health officials and government departments plan to utilize the overall events to offer monkeypox testing, vaccines, and community engagement, according to Fenton.

“We’re already starting to work with jurisdictions on a number of events taking place in the coming days and weeks,” he said. “This is important; it’s innovative—the way that we will bolster local efforts to meet people where they are and mitigate the spread of monkeypox.”

In addition to vaccines, the Biden administration plans to distribute 50,000 TPOXX monkeypox treatment courses at specific locations where outbreaks are most severe.

Outbreak

The monkeypox virus has been detected in 49 U.S. states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). There are 39,000 monkeypox cases globally.

“Monkeypox case data reported to CDC show that 98 percent of cases are occurring in men,” said CDC Director Rochelle Walenksy. Of those, almost all of the cases—93 percent—are in men who reported recent sexual activity with men.

Rochelle said the CDC is offering a newly developed toolkit to help LGBT event organizers “to provide and promote further monkeypox prevention strategies and