San Francisco became the first major U.S. city to declare a local monkeypox health emergency in an effort to bolster the city’s preparedness and response amid high demand for the vaccine.
The declaration, which will take effect Monday, is a legal action that allows city departments to mobilize and coordinate more effectively, Mayor London Breed’s office said in a statement. It also allows for future reimbursements from state and federal governments.
“We need to be prepared and this declaration will allow us to better serve the city,” said Health Director Dr. Grant Colfax. “Our response to COVID-19 has taught us that it is imperative that we mobilize the city’s resources. The declaration helps us ensure that we have all the tools to increase our outreach, testing and treatment, especially for people LGBTQ+ who continue to be at the highest risk of monkey pox.”
San Francisco Public Health Officer Dr. Susan Philip added, “We have always been at the forefront of advocacy and action for LGBTQ+ health, and I am issuing this statement to reaffirm our commitment to the well-being of ‘those communities and to enable us to move more quickly to obtain and distribute the resources needed to help those disproportionately affected.’
The San Francisco Department of Public Health has confirmed 261 cases of monkeypox in the city, while California has a total of 799 cases.
In New York, the state’s health commissioner, Dr. Mary T. Bassett, declared an imminent threat to public health, citing the rapid spread of the virus.
“This declaration means that local health departments engaged in response and prevention activities will be able to access additional state reimbursement, after other federal and state funding sources have been maximized, to protect all New Yorkers and ultimately limit the spread of monkeypox in our communities.” he said in a statement.
New York has 1,247 probable or confirmed cases of smallpox, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The state has received more than 60,000 doses of the Jynneos smallpox vaccine, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
San Francisco’s health department requested 35,000 doses to meet overwhelming demand there, but said it had received only 12,000 doses as of Thursday. About 4,220 more are expected this week, the mayor’s office said.
In Seattle, King County health officials say they have received only 4,720 doses of Jynneos. That’s just 6% of the 80,000 doses they’d like to have to cover the 40,000 people at high or high risk of monkeypox.
Jynneos works best when given in two doses at least four weeks apart, but with growing demand and limited supply, some jurisdictions have focused on getting the first doses now and figuring out the second doses later.
HHS says 338,000 vaccine doses have been delivered nationwide. The US Food and Drug Administration has authorized an additional 786,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine, and jurisdictions can place orders starting Friday.
In Washington, the federal government continues to monitor the monkeypox response and will use that to consider whether to declare the outbreak a public health emergency, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said Thursday.
“What I can tell you is that we continue to monitor the response across the country regarding monkeypox,” he said. “We have made available to all jurisdictions running their public health systems vaccines, tests and treatments far beyond the numbers currently needed.
“We will defer any decision on declaring a public health emergency based on the responses we’re seeing across the country. In short, we need to move forward and be able to end this outbreak.”
CNN’s Virginia Langmaid contributed to this report.