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“We don’t have as much vaccine as we need to have,” mentioned Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
DALLAS — Michael Harris was pissed off when WFAA first spoke with him on July 20.
He was repeatedly contacting the Dallas County well being division to see if he may get a monkeypox vaccine.
“I’d hate to have it and pass it on to somebody else,” he mentioned.
But the well being division frequently advised him he didn’t qualify.
Days later, he and his roommate flew to Florida and received the vaccine.
RELATED: Dallas, Tarrant counties enlist neighborhood well being companions to assist administer monkeypox vaccine
“I have friends in Austin, Houston, San Antonio having the same problem,” he mentioned.
Dallas County obtained simply over 5,000 doses of the vaccine final week, however well being director Dr. Philip Huang mentioned that received’t come near assembly demand.
“It’s still not a lot of doses,” Huang mentioned throughout a digital panel dialogue Wednesday night organized by Dallas councilmember Omar Narvaez and Dallas state consultant Jessica Gonzalez.
The county has launched a monkeypox hotline, 972-692-2780, however on the web site is a disclaimer warning callers they could encounter difficulties due to a excessive variety of calls. The hotline is open Monday by way of Friday from 9 a.m. to five p.m.
The doses at the moment are being distributed by some neighborhood clinics and well being companies, however doses are restricted and appointments replenish quick.
RELATED: No, the chickenpox vaccine doesn’t shield in opposition to monkeypox
Prism Health CEO Dr. John Carlo mentioned as quickly as they opened their telephone strains for vaccines, the telephones “rang off the hook.”
“We think after about an hour, close to an hour here today, we’ve really pretty much booked up all of our appointments,” he mentioned.
The county has barely expanded eligibility past those that have confirmed instances.
Now, Dallas County will vaccinate anybody who has had skin-to-skin or intimate contact with a constructive case or males who’ve had intercourse with males who’ve had a number of latest companions
On the panel Wednesday evening, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins mentioned eligibility is proscribed due to a nationwide vaccine scarcity.
“We don’t have as much vaccine as we need to have,” he mentioned.
Dallas County has extra monkeypox instances than any county in Texas, and Jenkins mentioned the county is working to acquire further doses.
Once they do, eligibility shall be revised.
RELATED: Monkeypox: 454 confirmed instances in Texas, 228 in North Texas area
“We understand people are nervous, scared, and that people don’t understand — I was that person about three or four weeks ago,” mentioned Narvaez.
Narvaez mentioned he wished to verify individuals know monkey pox is just not transmissible on the identical velocity that COVID is, however he reiterated that anybody can get it.
“It is not just a gay man’s virus, or something spread among men who have sex with men,” he mentioned.
“This is a virus that just happened to start in this community which I’m a member of, and it’s something we need to get under control.”
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story by The Texas Tribune Source link
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