TE24 International Desk:
NEW YORK – On a hot Sunday afternoon in New York, the epicenter of the U.S. monkeypox outbreak, a long line of men aged 20-40 waited for a vaccine to protect themselves and their loved ones from the virus.
The high school vaccine center in Bushwick, Brooklyn, lined with tables and chairs and stacks of medical equipment, evokes the vaccine site for Covid-19, a virus that also had its epicenter in New York. Those on the line spoke to AFP
They felt lucky to get a promise because of the shortage of cans in New York.
At 6pm on Friday, 9,200 time slots are available on the city’s dedicated website. The site crashed because the site had a lot of traffic 3 days ago.
“Especially with Covid, I was frustrated because it seemed to require a structured process or vaccine deployment,” 23-year-old Aidan Baglivo told AFP. “It was nothing really.”
More than 8 million people contracted monkeypox last week, with 461 cases recorded on Friday after the outbreak began in the United States in May. ..
That number was up from 223 on Monday. Data Analyst Baglivo found that the most connected people on social media were the most likely to get a vaccination appointment.
Robert, who did not reveal his family’s name, told AFP he was sitting in front of his computer and updating the site “like crazy” until sitting down.
“It shouldn’t be a problem because we already have a vaccine and it (minus) … should be more efficient to prevent it from becoming a big problem,” the 28-year-old said. Neither his partner nor his best friend could vaccinate.
“The extra days when people aren’t vaccinated are the worst.” Anyone can get monkeypox, which is spread by close physical contact, but the Genios vaccine is now available to men. It is reserved for sexually active men, who account for most of the cases.
Many LGBTQ people in New York worry that the virus could further stigmatize their community. “If we don’t affect queer people, can we respond more quickly to vaccine development?” wondered actor Nathan Tiltsky, 42.
He says the LGBTQ community doesn’t have much feeling for vaccines because “we’ve seen the disease and know what the AIDS epidemic was like.” We know it’s important. “We know it’s important to be proactive in doing this,” he told AFP.
Monkeypox is characterized by skin lesions (which can appear on the genitals and face) and is often accompanied by fever, sore throat and lymph node pain. It usually resolves spontaneously, but it can be very painful.
New York, on the east coast of the United States, has already administered or plans to administer 21,500 vaccines and hopes to speed up the process by pledging more than 30,000 vaccinations across the state.
However, due to a shortage of cans, the Bushwick site is not scheduled to reopen Monday. the city Health Commissioner Ashwin Bhasan said on Sunday that New York needs several thousand more vaccinations. as well as In the Bushwick location, fitness instructor Leroy Jackson has another concern.
“I’m probably one of two or three blacks in this line,” the 27-year-old said. He stressed that access to minority and underprivileged group bookings was more restricted. He emphasized that access