BATON ROUGE, La. (BPRROUD) — Louisiana Department of Health leaders say the state does not have enough vaccines or medication to combat the monkeypox virus.
Even though Louisiana monkeypox cases are relatively low compared to the nation, the state said there is a demand and there is a major concern.
“I wouldn’t say we have widespread transmission at this point, but I do think many cases are undetected. I can tell you many cases we have identified and interviewed so far, many of them have had to seek care from more than one provider before they were tested,” said Theresa Sokol, LDH epidemiologist.
On Wednesday, LDH reported 58 total infections. The majority of infections are reported to be in the southeast region of the state.
The state received a shipment of 2,880 doses of Jynneos, a monkeypox vaccine, on Wednesday. If a health provider wants to prescribe an antiviral medication to treat the virus they have to request it through LDH because of the low supply.
“I am concerned,” said Sokol. “I don’t think we have enough to meet the demand.”
While anyone can get monkeypox, the director of the state’s STD HIV program Sam Burgess said the virus disproportionately impacts the gay and bisexual community.
Next month New Orleans is hosting its annual Southern Decadence festival. Burgess said he’s working on hosting community vaccine events in New Orleans and Baton Rouge before major events that attract vulnerable communities.
“It’s not considered a sexually transmitted infection although the close contact occurs during sexual activity is very efficient with transmitting the virus with someone who has it and doesn’t,” said Burgess.
As of right now, those who can get the vaccine are only those who have been exposed and those at high risk.
Who is eligible for monkeypox vaccination:
- People who have been identified by public health officials as a contact of someone with monkeypox
- People whose jobs may expose them to orthopoxviruses
- Bisexual, gay bisexual and this can be men who have sex with men or trans
- Transgender women or non-binary individual who are assigned male at birth who also have sex with me
- These individuals in the last 14 days have to had sex with multiple or anonymous partner or they had to have engaged in high risk actively in a social sexual venue
“Monkeypox is really transmitted with close to close contact, it’s really direct contact with the sores with the person who is infected with monkeypox,” said Sokol.
Burgess said there is no data to determine the gay or bisexual population in the state. However, he estimates at least 50,000 people in Louisiana are gay or bisexual. He said 2,880 doses of the vaccine does not nearly meet demands.
“We are working very closely with providers trying to make sure they are getting those doses out as quickly as possible,” said Burgess.
Sokol said if you have pre-existing conditions or are HIV positive and on PREP you can still get the Jynneos vaccine. She said the state is not ordering doses of the ACAM 2000 vaccine, which is known for impacting pre-existing health conditions.
“The unfortunate part of it is that ACAM 2000 is actually in greater supply which is one of the reasons we do not have enough vaccine for everybody,” she said.
According to LDH, the CDC is working with manufacturers to distribute more vaccines. After Wednesday’s allocations, the state does not know when its next shipment will be. The smallpox vaccine is also effective against monkeypox.
For a list of all locations in Louisiana administering the monkeypox vaccine, click here.