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New York City now has three mass vaccination sites set up to combat the growing monkeypox outbreak in its five boroughs.
NYC Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan toured one of the sites in Bushwick, Brooklyn, on Friday to highlight how the city is addressing the spread of the virus that has infected almost 500 people, many of them gay men, the demographic that is seeing the highest number of infections.
The health commission tweeted on Friday about the outbreak:
As of July 15, 490 confirmed orthopoxvirus/monkeypox cases have been identified, with 461 in NYC, 16 in Westchester Cnty, 4 in Suffolk, 3 in Nassau, 1 in Sullivan, 1 in Chemung, 1 in Rockland, 1 in Erie, 1 in St. Lawrence & 1 in Monroe Cnty.
The local CBS affiliate reported on the development:
The three sites are by appointment only. They’re located as Aviation High School in Queens, Bushwick Education in Brooklyn and Bronx High School of Science.
More than 9,000 appointments were available on the city’s online portal Friday, but were fully booked within minutes. The Health Department said more doses from the federal government are expected to arrive this week.
About 4,000 additional doses will be made available through referrals by community partner organizations that serve high-risk patients.