A registered nurse prepares a dose of a Monkeypox vaccine at the Salt Lake County Health Department Thursday, July 28, 2022, in Salt Lake City. The country’s monkeypox outbreak can still be stopped, U.S. health officials said Thursday, despite rising case numbers and so-far limited vaccine supplies.(AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
By Helena Oliviero
The DeKalb County Board of Health’s appointments for an upcoming vaccine event filled up within 15 minutes early Thursday morning.
Appointments were required for the vaccination event on Friday at the North DeKalb Health Center in Chamblee. The link for the appointments went live at 7:30 a.m. Thursday morning on the Board of Health website. By 7:45 a.m., all 240 slots were filled.
The supply of monkeypox vaccines is still extremely limited. The form for appointments was disabled once all slots were filled.
More appointments will go online as more vaccines become available.
Despite a new allotment of monkeypox vaccine for Georgia, soaring demand for the shots is still overwhelming a scarce supply of vaccines. Health officials say more vaccine and more coordination should ease the problems soon.
On the heels of complaints last week that monkeypox vaccinations were nearly impossible to schedule, local county health departments have taken to social media to inform the community about vaccination events and partnered with community health organizations to deliver the shots.
Starting this week, monkeypox vaccines and testing will be available in health districts throughout the state.
The number of monkeypox cases in Georgia rose to 504 Thursday and includes four women, according to DPH. So far, there have been no children diagnosed with monkeypox in Georgia. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Georgia is fifth in the nation for the number of cases. Cases in the state have grown swiftly — on July 1 Georgia reported 11 cases.
While most cases have been confirmed in men who have sex with men, anyone can be affected by the virus.
California declares state of emergency for monkeypox
How to get the monkeypox vaccine
Local health departments in Georgia have started administering the vaccine at the health departments and they are holding vaccination clinics. Here’s how to get more information:
For Gwinnett County, go to gnrhealth.com/
For DeKalb County, go to dekalbhealth.net/
For Fulton County, go to fultoncountyga.gov/ and then click on health services
For Cobb County, go to cobbanddouglaspublichealth.com/
For Clayton County, go to https://www.claytoncountypublichealth.org/
Read the original story on AJC.com.
