Hundreds of Salt Lake gay, bisexual men vaccinated for monkeypox

The Salt Lake County Department of Health held a day-long event to vaccinate the most vulnerable target of the monkeypox virus: sexually active men who have sex with men. Hundreds of men showed up to receive the vaccine, about 80 of which were turned away because of lack of supply. A total of 525 doses were delivered at the event. Those who received the doses will have to return for a second shot in August.

The Utah Department of Health and Human Services determined that the state’s very limited supply of monkeypox vaccine should be reserved for men who have sex with men and who have had multiple partners in recent weeks in the state who are at the highest risk. Salt Lake County Health Department officials reached out to organizers of such events and asked them to notify their members that the vaccine would be available at a one-day event.

One of those leaders was Michael Sanders of blackBOOTS, who has headed up many sexual health programs in the past decade is Salt Lake.

“I have, in the past, engaged the community in many public health efforts, and I tend to have a lot of success because I have a large social network here in Utah and I’m just grateful that I could be a part of that process,” he said.

Salt Lake County Health’s event was to run from 2 to 7 p.m. People started to show up at the event at noon. The vaccines supply ran out by about 5:30 p.m. About 80 people who had arrived before they closed the event down were placed on a wait list. They will receive emails when a new supply is made available by the federal and state departments.

“So when we have more monkeypox vaccine available in the state, we will be holding future clinics for additional higher risk groups,” said Nicholas Rupp, communications director of the Salt Lake County Health Department. “We don’t know when those will be yet because we don’t know yet from the federal government when we’ll get those additional doses of monkeypox vaccine.”

Rupp made it clear that the county currently has no monkeypox vaccine available and no additional names will be added to a waiting list.

He also noted that the monkeypox vaccine is not available from other providers or elsewhere in the county and will not until the federal government allocates more to the state and county.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services ordered an additional 2.5 million doses of the vaccine from the manufacturer on July 1.

The county health department does ask you to call them if you notice a new rash or know you’ve had close or skinto-skin contact with someone diagnosed with monkeypox. Call 385-468-4242.

According to the CDC, Utah has 13 cases of monkeypox as of July 19. Monkeypox is transmitted through extended skin-to-skin contact and contact with the clothing or linens of an infected individual.

You can stay current on vaccine eligibility and availability by clicking on the “Monkeypox Info” banner at SaltLakeHealth.org.