Mpox is still here, and free vaccine is ending

BY LYNN BELTRAN, S: COUNTY HEALTH DEPT.

Salt Lake County Health Department has seen an increase in mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) cases in the last two months. While it’s easy to think the risk to the community has gone away since the initial outbreak in the summer of 2022, we want people who may be at risk to be informed and protected.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that while cases have declined sharply since 2022, the U.S. continues to identify about 60 new cases per week across the country. Most of those cases are in people who are not vaccinated against mpox, or who only received one shot of the vaccine. (Spoiler alert: It’s not too late to get your second shot, even if your first was in 2022!)

Getting the mpox vaccine is also now a bit of a time-sensitive issue, as the vaccine (called Jynneos) that protects against mpox is about to become costly. With the initial outbreak in 2022, Utah’s public health system received a supply of free vaccines to administer to people in the community who were most at risk of infection. That initial free supply will expire at the end of October, and after that (or once the free supply is used up), people who need the vaccine will need to pay for it out of pocket ($275 per dose!) or use their health insurance. It is important to know that the illness caused by the mpox virus is not mild. Most people who get infected are seriously ill for several weeks or longer. Most infections include painful lesions on the body or in the genital area, and lesions may also appear on the face. Lesions often continue to appear for several weeks and can be very painful. Many people who have the virus also experience significant flu-like symptoms, and some may have difficulty swallowing or defecating, which can lead to hospitalization.

Mpox is spread through close contact with an infected partner. This could include sexual contact and skin-to-skin contact that’s not sexual. Even prolonged, close face-to-face interactions can spread pox. People who are not vaccinated or who have only one dose of vaccine are more likely to suffer longer-lasting and more severe symptoms.

It’s an incredible “public health win” to have a vaccine available for a sexually transmitted infection. If most of the people who are at risk in a community are vaccinated, protective herd immunity is more likely to occur, and that can lead to zero new infections.

The mpox vaccine is a two-dose vaccine, where you should get the second shot no earlier than 28 days after the first shot. It is never too late to get that second dose, even if it has been two years since your first shot.

Salt Lake County Health Department still has a few hundred doses of free mpox vaccine to give out before the expiration date. We recommend the vaccine for all men who have sex or are intimate with men, as well as transmen and transwomen who have sex or are intimate with men.

Get your mpox vaccine now, before we run out of free supply, and before you’ll have to pay $550 for it yourself. Call 385468-SHOT from Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., to make an appointment. Sameday appointments are often available.