Monkeypox vaccine clinic planned at LGBTQ Community Center on Thursday

Ema Sasic, Palm Springs Desert Sun
·1 min read

Riverside County Public Health will host a monkeypox vaccine clinic from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday at the LGBTQ Community Center.

The center is located at 1301 N. Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs.

The county states that walk-ins are accepted, but limited spots are available, and people must meet vaccine eligibility criteria. That includes:

  • people who have been exposed to monkeypox;

  • specific health care and laboratory workers who directly process and perform monkeypox testing;

  • people who engage in sex work;

  • cisgender men, transgender men, transgender women and nonbinary people who are having sex (including chemsex, group sex, anonymous sex or attending sex-on-premises events) with other cisgender men, transgender men, transgender women and/or nonbinary people.

It was not specified how many vaccine doses would be distributed at the clinic. For more information, email mpx@ruhealth.org or call Disease Control at 951-358-5107.

Monkeypox is a disease caused by the monkeypox virus. People usually become infected through close contact with skin lesions or bodily fluids of infected animals or humans (alive or dead), including droplets, or clothing and linens from an infected person. The virus can also be spread through sexual contact, but it is not classified as a sexually transmitted infection.

The virus can infect anyone, but during the current U.S. outbreak, it has disproportionately affected men who have sex with men, a group that includes people who identify as gay, bisexual, transgender and nonbinary.

In Riverside County, there have been 295 confirmed and probable monkeypox cases as of Wednesday. The City of Palm Springs has seen the most cases on a city-by-city basis, with 140, and Cathedral City has had 37.

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Monkeypox vaccine clinic planned at LGBTQ Community Center on Thursday