CHICAGO (CN) — At a pop-up clinic on Chicago's North Side on Monday, the line for a monkeypox vaccine ran down the street. But there wasn't nearly enough for everyone.
"They brought 100 individual doses, and we used all 100 doses," said Joshua Gutierrez, a prevention services manager for the Test Positive Aware Network, a local health care nonprofit. TPAN, he said, had partnered with the medical faculties of Rush University and the University of Illinois at Chicago to make just those 100 jabs possible.
"The TPAN was asked by Rush and UIC if we'd be able to provide space to set up a vaccination clinic," Gutierrez said.
Since only about two weeks prior, the number of confirmed monkeypox cases in Illinois had tripled from about 100 to over 340, with the true number of infections almost certainly higher. A similar rise in cases can be seen across the world, with the global confirmed case load jumping from 6,000 to over 18,000 since the start of July.
The virus, which is native to West Africa, has spread quickly from its usual territory quickly since April. Of the 75 countries where monkeypox is now present, 69, including the U.S, have no history of reporting it. The situation is concerning enough that World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared monkeypox a global health emergency on Saturday, urging immediate action to counter this latest public health threat.
“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little,” Ghebreyesus said.
Despite the urgency, the Chicago Public Health Department is by its own admission still underequipped to handle the crisis. An official statement from the department says the city has only received a limited supply of the FDA-approved Jynneos monkeypox vaccine, produced by the Danish biotechnology firm Bavarian Nordic, from the federal stockpile.
Until the city can procure more vaccine, the department said shots will be reserved for men who have sexual contact with other men, the population considered most at risk for infection. The department expects vaccine availability for the broader public to increase in the coming months, but asks Chicagoans to "please be patient."
"There is not currently enough vaccine for all those who qualify to receive a dose, but we will expand where vaccine is available as we receive additional doses," the statement reads.
Dr. Cathy Creticos, medical director of infectious diseases for the Chicago-based nonprofit LGBTQ healthcare provider Howard Brown Health, said that her organization was similarly struggling to meet the demand for vaccine and information from concerned patients.
"We've vaccinated over a thousand people so far," Creticos said. "Our phone system is overwhelmed, but we're working on improving that."
The prioritization of men who have sexual contact with other men is part of why Howard Brown is so heavily involved in the vaccination process, and why TPAN was tapped to host a pop-up clinic. Located on Chicago's North Side not far from the city's largest LGBTQ neighborhood, TPAN was founded in 1987 to provide services to those in the city living with HIV and AIDS. While Gutierrez said he was happy with the turnout at the pop-up on Monday, he expressed some frustration with the city's lack of a stronger institutional response.
"Why are we having to use pop-ups? Why don't we have clinics? Why don't we have a rapid response team? But all these things just don't have funding," he said.
His criticism was shared by several of the men waiting in line Monday to get their vaccine. Several said they had not seen vaccine distribution locations listed anywhere on the city's official channels, which instead simply told people to "contact [their] healthcare provider."
Follow @djbyrnes1
