Tarrant County receives additional monkeypox vaccine doses; virus not ‘widespread’
Tarrant County has received its monkeypox vaccine doses despite recent shipment issues in other states around the country.
Vinny Taneja, Tarrant County Public Health director, said the county received 1,500 vials, or 7,500 doses, of the monkeypox vaccine on Friday. An additional thousand vials is expected to arrive this week, he said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend vaccination for people who have been exposed to monkeypox or people at risk of getting monkeypox.
Monkeypox can spread when a person comes into contact with the virus from an infected animal, infected person, or materials contaminated with the virus, per the CDC.
According to the CDC, monkeypox is not considered a sexually transmitted disease, although it can spread during intimate physical contact between people.
The county received an initial supply of around 1,100 monkeypox vaccine vials, some of which were distributed to community partners like health clinics, the city of Arlington, John Peter Smith Health Network and UNT Health Science Center. As of Tuesday, Taneja said most of the community partners reported that they had used their vaccine allotments.
While waiting for the latest shipment of vaccine vials that arrived Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention increased the maximum dosage amount to five per vial.
The CDC recommends two doses of the monkeypox vaccine administered 28 days apart.
Currently the county’s vaccine supply is not distributed to pharmacies like CVS or Walgreens, Taneja said. Right now Tarrant County Public Health is focusing on targeted outreach in the community.
To schedule a monkeypox vaccine appointment through Tarrant County Public Health, visit tarrantcounty.com/monkeypoxvaccine.
Tarrant County reported its 74th monkeypox case Tuesday since the first case was reported a little over a month ago on July 11.
For now, the general public should just remain aware of monkeypox, Taneja said.
“We don’t think there is a current threat, like widespread in the community or anything like that,” he said.
