Health organizations like APLA Health have notified their patients that effective immediately, all appointments for second doses of the human monkeypox vaccines are being cancelled in compliance with Los Angeles County Department of Public Health guidance to prioritize first doses to those who are currently unvaccinated. According to the notice, “research indicates that one dose provides strong protection against human monkeypox disease for one year or more.”
Second doses of the human monkeypox vaccines will only be offered to individuals who are moderately or severely immunocompromised, including those with advanced or poorly controlled HIV. This approach is being followed by the California Department of Public Health and the health departments of large cities such as New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.
Data from County of Los Angeles Public Health reports 680 total monkeypox / orthopox confirmed cases as of August 8, 2022 at 12:00 a.m. (includes Long Beach and Pasadena).
The Los Angeles Times reports that as monkeypox cases continue to increase among high-risk people, federal officials on Tuesday announced they will stretch limited vaccine supplies by giving just one-fifth the current dosage–a move that would quintuple the existing supply of monkeypox vaccine doses, a priority in hard-hit communities such as Los Angeles County and San Francisco, where the virus has been rapidly increasing in communities where men have sex with men and vaccines remain in short supply.
LA County Public Health announced that it will operate a by appointment only Monkeypox Vaccination Pop-Up Clinic with its pharmacy partner at West Hollywood Library Community Meeting Room starting on Wednesday, August 3, 2022. By Thursday, August 4, 2022, appointments were completely booked until the first week of September.
The West Hollywood Park Library appointment portal at 625 N San Vicente Boulevard states that, “no times are available in the next month from August 8, 2022 to September 7, 2022.”
The availability could change, but until then, the closest walk-up vaccination clinic is in East Los Angeles at Obregon Park, 4021 E 1st Street.
