# LGBTQ Pride Events Offer a Make-or-break Moment for Monkeypox [[LGBTQ]] Pride events offer a make-or-break moment for monkeypox **Published:** 6/24/2022 **Source:** [[NBC News]] **Author(s):** [[Benjamin Ryan]] **Archived URL:** <https://archive.is/wakWl> > [!abstract] > ## Abstract: > There have been over 170 diagnoses of monkeypox in the U.S. since the outbreak began in early May. The vast majority of cases are among gay and bisexual men. ## My Notes - [[James Krellenstein]] - [[HIV]] Activist; co-founder of [[PrEP4All]] - "The vast majority of identified cases of the virus have been among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, in particular those who have reported recent sexual encounters with new or multiple partners, according to the [[World Health Organization]]." --- > [!info] #### Full Text After 27 dreary months of [[Covid-19]] restrictions, which felled the past two years' Pride celebrations, [[LGBTQ]] Americans are finally poised to fully celebrate their community on the public stage this weekend. But in a stroke of uncannily inopportune timing, the [monkeypox virus has just arrived on the scene](https://archive.is/o/wakWl/https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/monkeypox-vaccines-offered-gay-bisexual-men-rcna35035), threatening to put a pall over the party. And public health experts say marquee Pride gatherings this weekend in cities such as New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Houston and Chicago could amount to a make-or-break moment for the U.S. outbreak of the virus. As of Thursday, [173 diagnoses of monkeypox in 24 states plus Washington, D.C.](https://archive.is/o/wakWl/https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/us-map.html), had been reported,  according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This figure has been increasing at a forebodingly swift pace since the global outbreak began in early May. Yet many experts presume this is a substantial undercount, due to what they characterize as woefully insufficient screening and awareness about the virus. "What really scares me right now is we are not talking about the inadequate job we are doing on testing," James Krellenstein, an influential [[HIV]] activist and the co-founder of advocacy group [PrEP4All](https://archive.is/o/wakWl/https://www.prep4all.org/), told [[NBC News]], even as the [[Biden]] administration pledged this week to [ramp up the nation's monkeypox testing capacity.](https://archive.is/o/wakWl/https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/22/monkeypox-testing-expands/)   The [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]] further reports that the outbreak has now seen [more than 3,500 confirmed monkeypox cases in 44 countries.](https://archive.is/o/wakWl/https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2022/06/22/monkeypox-testing-expands/) The vast majority of identified cases of the virus have been among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, in particular those who have reported recent sexual encounters with new or multiple partners, according to the [[World Health Organization]]. Believing that the virus is largely transmitting through close, skin-to-skin contact in the context of sexual activity between men, epidemiologists have sourced the virus' sudden rise around the globe to major mid-spring gatherings of gay men in Spain and Belgium.  Given the critically urgent need to control the outbreak before monkeypox can establish a long-standing foothold in the U.S., Pride event organizers across the country have been put in a tense and precarious bind. They must strike a delicate balance between helping educate the public about the virus and mitigating harmful social stigma toward people who contract it. Crucially, they seek to avoid the past communications blunders that [marred and exacerbated the AIDS crisis](https://archive.is/o/wakWl/https://www.today.com/health/monkeypox-[[hiv]]-public-health-experts-learn-from-mistakes-rcna34577). According to [[Amira Roess]], a professor of global health and epidemiology at [[George Mason University]], the wider public should also not be left with the false belief that monkeypox cases will never transmit substantially outside of gay and bi men's circles, as experts such as herself widely expect the virus to do. "That belief will lead to broader complacency," she said. This dawning of yet another new potential pandemic arrives as the nation is already weary from the persistent Covid era, and as domestic terrorist groups and far-right voices have [threatened Pride celebrations](https://archive.is/o/wakWl/https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-news/pride-organizers-are-responding-increased-threats-lgbtq-events-rcna33297) with violence and intimidation. Plus, Florida is grappling with a [major outbreak of bacterial meningitis](https://archive.is/o/wakWl/https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-health-and-wellness/cdc-recommends-vaccine-gay-bisexual-men-florida-meningitis-surge-rcna34937) among men who have sex with men.  "The world is understandably tired of hearing about infectious diseases," said Dr. Monica Gandhi, an infectious disease specialist at University of California, San Francisco. Referring to monkeypox, she added, "However, the good thing about this particular pathogen is that we have a pre-existing vaccine that can prevent it and be given to those who have been close contacts."  On one hand, the public-health foot soldiers racing to spread the word about monkeypox at Pride events this weekend will benefit from a fortuitously timed window of opportunity to reach a massive, captive audience of those most at risk of infection. But on the flip side, some experts are concerned that these events will only fuel the virus' transmission among people who could then carry the virus back to their homes in far-flung locations — primarily through a surge of sexual connections; and also possibly from skin-to-skin contact within tightly packed club venues. "We have a real opportunity here during Pride especially to leverage the history of the [[LGBTQ]]+ community in being really fantastic community partners to get message out there, to engage with providers that care for this population and to get them access to our public health," Dr. Ashwin Vasan, the commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, told [[NBC News]]. Dr. David Holland, chief clinical officer in the Fulton County Board of Health in Atlanta, is keen to keep monkeypox in perspective. The virus, he said, "is nothing like Covid."  Monkeypox does not transmit anywhere nearly as readily as the coronavirus. If it can transmit through the air at all— the question is controversial and unsettled — monkeypox likely requires hours of very close contact to do so, many infectious disease experts have argued. Furthermore, while monkeypox can cause weeks of illness and in at least some cases can lead to severe pain, there have been no deaths during the current outbreak among people contracting the virus outside of Africa.  The Food and Drug Administration has [approved the Jynneos vaccine, initially developed for smallpox, for monkeypox](https://archive.is/o/wakWl/https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-live-non-replicating-vaccine-prevent-smallpox-and-monkeypox). Research suggests it may be about 85 percent effective at preventing monkeypox infection. The [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]] is currently offering it as post-exposure prophylaxis to close contacts of those diagnosed, including health care workers. On Thursday, New York became the first city in the nation to [offer the monkeypox vaccine more broadly](https://archive.is/o/wakWl/https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/health/health-topics/monkeypox.page%23vax), specifically to men reporting multiple or anonymous male sex partners within the past 14 days. Demand was so great that within two hours of the sudden announcement that a single city clinic had begun offering vaccinations, scores of gay men were already [waiting in line outside](https://archive.is/o/wakWl/https://twitter.com/liamstack/status/1540020287181361153). New Yorker Louis Jordan waited for four hours on Thursday for his vaccination. "The last time our country ignored a new disease that was spreading among gay men, it didn't turn out too well," the writer said, alluding to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. "I think it's important to protect myself if I can." During a tour of the clinic Friday morning, Vasan said offering vaccines "gives us a chance to slow this outbreak down." He reported that the city, which was given 1,000 doses of the vaccine by the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]], vaccinated 275 people on Thursday and is in talks with the agency to secure more. Dr. Brett Peterson, deputy chief of the poxvirus and rabies branch at the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention|CDC]], said at the agency's advisory committee on immunization practices meeting on Thursday that he and his colleagues are in talks with departments of health in other U.S. jurisdictions about plans to expand monkeypox vaccinations as New York has. However, he noted that as of June 14, the nation had on hand only 36,000 courses of the Jynneos vaccine; about 4,000 people have begun the two-shot vaccine regimen so far. The U.S. is awaiting a shipment of about 150,000 additional two-dose courses in a few weeks, and some 750,000 courses will arrive later in the year. "There are some supply limitations that we're working to address and make sure that this medical countermeasure in particular is being provided and used in an optimal fashion but also an equitable fashion," Peterson said. %%Footer Starts Here%% --- <center><img src="https://archive.is/do5ay/df25cfff93575f174c387ac9f4c64744da0fadb9.png" alt="Keep digging!" height="100px"></center> --- ### Tags ### Linked Pages & Footnotes