Dallas County declares health emergency on monkeypox outbreak
Special to The Dallas Examiner Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins declared an emergency outbreak of monkeypox on Friday. The announcement comes a day after the Biden administration declared the monkey outbreak a public health emergency. [...] The post Dallas County declares health emergency on monkeypox outbreak appeared first on Dallas Examiner.
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Special to The Dallas Examiner
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins declared an emergency outbreak of monkeypox on Friday. The announcement comes a day after the Biden administration declared the monkey outbreak a public health emergency.
The updated total number of cases is 215 according to Dallas County health director Dr. Philip Huang with 98% of cases reported being men who have sex with men. There have been no reports of pediatric cases.
“We have the most monkeypox cases in the state of Texas,” said Jenkins in Friday’s press conference. “We’re going to defeat monkeypox through tracing the people who have been in contact with a person with monkeypox, testing them and getting the vaccine out to the most vulnerable populations.”
Right now, Dallas County has received about 5,000 first doses of the JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine. Those currently eligible for the vaccine are restricted to men who have sex with men and have had contact with multiple or anonymous partners in the last two weeks and anyone exposed due to intimate contact with infected persons.
Since there is not enough of the vaccine to distribute it to all those who want one, Jenkins said the emergency declaration will help urge more doses of the vaccine to be released by the federal government. Community partners such as Prism Health North Texas, Parkland Health, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Abounding Prosperity and Community Health Empowerment are working with the health department to administer the vaccine.
Dallas County currently has the most monkeypox cases compared to any other county in Texas. Nationwide the CDC says there are more than 7,000 confirmed cases. For questions relating to vaccine access and registration, the county asks people to call 972-692-2780.
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