Florida News

Florida hasn't received more monkeypox vaccines, even as cases rise

WLRN 91.3 FM | By Cindy Krischer Goodman | South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Published July 7, 2022 at 9:48 PM CDT

FILE - This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. U.S. health officials are expanding the group of people recommended to get vaccinated against the monkeypox virus. They also say they are providing more monkeypox vaccine, working to expand testing, and taking other steps to try to get ahead of the outbreak. (Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP, file)

As the number of monkeypox cases in South Florida climbs amid an ongoing global outbreak, the federal government is releasing vaccine doses from its stockpile to people who are most at risk.

But while Florida has the third-highest number of cases in the country, it did not receive doses distributed to states by U.S. Health and Human Services on July 1. Twenty-one states or cities received a total of 31,530 doses with the largest number going to California, the state with the most cases (111).

In a press release, HHS said those doses were distributed “as part of an enhanced nationwide vaccination strategy to mitigate the spread of monkeypox in communities where transmission is highest and with populations most at risk.”