South Carolina expands monkeypox vaccine eligibility as more shots become available
South Carolina has expanded the criteria for who is eligible for the monkeypox vaccine to include a broader cross-section of the LGBTQ+ community, the state health department announced Friday afternoon.
The state Department of Health and Environmental Control, in the same announcement, also shared that a new method of administering shots will allow it to vastly expand the number of doses it can give out.
The new eligibility guidelines and method for administering vaccines takes effect immediately, the health department said.
Previously, there were two main eligibility requirements. The first was people who had been exposed to a confirmed positive case of monkeypox. The second was if the person is an adult gay, trans, queer or gender-nonconforming person who has had sex with multiple other men in the last 14 days.
The state health department is keeping those eligibility guidelines and expanding them to add two more groups, which will encompass a broader swath of the LGBTQ+ community. Here are the two new groups of people who can now get the vaccine:
- The first, men who have sex with men, including gay or bisexual men, transgender or gender non-conforming individuals, can now get the vaccine if they have contracted a sexually transmitted disease or have had multiple sex partners in the last 90 days.
- Anyone taking PrEP, the HIV prevention treatment.
State epidemiologist Linda Bell, in a statement, encouraged anyone included in those categories of vaccine eligibility to get vaccinated, as “cases are slowly beginning to increase” and they are at the highest risk of being exposed right now.
However, it’s important to remember that anyone can be exposed to monkeypox, also known as MPX, and health experts say it will very likely not stay primarily within the LGBTQ+ community for long.
Anyone interested in getting the vaccine or finding out if they are eligible can call the state health department care line at (855) 472-3432 between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday. For those who are eligible, the health department will schedule an appointment for a vaccine during that same call.
How does the virus get spread?
- The primary way of catching the virus is through prolonged skin-to-skin or face-to-face contact with someone who has the virus, particularly contact with “sores, scabs, or bodily fluids as well as during intimate contact such as sex, kissing, hugging, and touching.”
- The virus can also spread through the air but only after a long exposure over several hours. Being in an elevator, for example, would likely not spread the virus.
A new vaccination method increases doses
Supply of the only monkeypox vaccine, Jynneos, has been very limited because there is currently only one manufacturer of the virus in the world.
To deal with that, the Centers for Disease Control and Food and Drug Administration authorized a new way of giving the vaccine that requires one-fifth the normal amount, thereby increasing the number of available shots by up to five times.
The new method “calls for giving intradermal shots just under the first layer of skin rather than subcutaneous shots, which go into the fat layer farther below the skin,” the state health department said. A subcutaneous shot is a more traditional method of giving vaccines and is how vaccines for Polio and Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) are given.
“With vaccine supply being limited nationally, it is important that we find ways to meet the needs and demands of those at higher risk of exposure to monkeypox,” Bell said in a statement. “That not only includes adopting the new method of delivery identified by the CDC, but it also includes expanding the criteria to allow more people to be eligible. As vaccine availability increases, we will continue to review criteria to get more people protected from this disease.”
The state health department encourages anyone who thinks they might have been exposed to monkeypox or “have a new, unusual rash” to seek medical attention or call the health department.
The virus’ spread has still been relatively low in South Carolina, with just 100 cases as of Friday, Aug. 26. Here is where they are located.
- 24 cases in the Lowcountry
- 38 cases in the Midlands
- 10 cases in the Pee Dee regions
- 28 cases in the Upstate
This story was originally published August 26, 2022 at 5:05 PM.
