Chicago expands monkeypox vaccine access, OKs second doses as supply grows

Chicago’s health department is expanding access to the monkeypox vaccine.

The city is scheduled to receive up to 20,000 doses of the JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine from the Strategic National Stockpile and will distribute them to clinics across the city over the next week, the Chicago Department of Public Health announced Thursday.

The monkeypox vaccine will also be available to all sexually active gay men, bisexual men, other men who have sex with men and transgender people. The effective but scarce vaccine had previously only been available to people in those groups who have sex at venues, for money, or with multiple or anonymous partners.

The broadened availability follows a change in vaccine injection procedure that allows five times as many doses to be given per vial, as well as a large influx of vaccine supply.

Anyone who has had close physical contact with someone diagnosed with monkeypox is still eligible for vaccination, city officials said. Access is limited to people living in the city and state, including Chicago college students, according to the health department statement.

People who have received their first shot will also be able to schedule their second shot, marking an end to the Chicago Department of Public Health’s rules permitting only a first dose for most at-risk people, the department wrote.

[ Chicago prioritizes first dose of limited monkeypox vaccine, delays second shot ]

“Our MPV vaccine supply continues to increase, and we are pleased to be opening up larger clinics to serve even more Chicagoans, while still working to vaccinate those at highest risk to help stop the spread,” CDPH Medical Director Dr. Janna Kerins said in the statement.

The virus continues to spread in Chicago and across the country. The city reported 720 cases Thursday among the 888 cases confirmed throughout Illinois. Chicago’s cases appeared mostly in gay men and bisexual men, though a growing number are in straight people as well.

The smallpox-related monkeypox virus was first detected in humans in 1970 and is endemic to parts of west and central Africa. A recent outbreak has seen the virus spread throughout the world.

The illness often begins with flu-like symptoms and swelling of the lymph nodes before progressing to painful, large rashes throughout the body and often around the genital area that look like pimples or blisters. Monkeypox symptoms can last up to four weeks, and 42 Chicagoans have been hospitalized because of the illness.

Vaccine demand has far outweighed availability since the virus first appeared in Chicago in early June. Medical experts and gay men called on the city, state and federal government to secure and distribute more doses as the virus case count rose.

[ Monkeypox concern grows as virus spreads in Chicago: ‘They need to get loud about this’ ]

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The monkeypox vaccine calls for two doses given at least 28 days apart. In July, the city announced that it would delay most at-risk people’s access to the recommended second dose. The restrictions had sought to distribute doses as widely as possible while they were in short supply.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker declared an Illinois public health emergency over the virus on Aug. 1. Days later, a similar nationwide public health emergency was also declared.

The breakthrough federal approval of a process to inject the vaccine intradermally has allowed public health authorities nationwide to stretch the vaccine. With the FDA’s emergency authorization of the below-the-skin shot, vaccinators can now administer up to five times as many doses per vial.

The city’s health department has also begun to operate large-scale vaccination clinics, the CDPH wrote. The Center on Halsted is offering 500 vaccination appointments for Saturday. Appointments for the vaccination event and for other clinics administering the monkeypox vaccine can be made online.

For information on how to secure a monkeypox vaccine, visit the Chicago Public Health Department’s monkeypox vaccination page.

jsheridan@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @jakesheridan_