With 2 confirmed cases, southern Indiana health department hosts monkeypox vaccine clinic

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Floyd County Health Department started a targeted monkeypox vaccine clinic on Wednesday.

The county received a small amount of the JYNNEOS vaccine after having two confirmed monkeypox cases.

The clinic, which is not open to the public, aims to vaccinate high-risk contacts of those cases, according to Floyd County Health Officer Dr. Tom Harris.

For now, the department's supply can be used for 10 to 15 people. Indiana is currently using a tier system to determine who gets the monkeypox vaccine in an effort to contain and prevent monkeypox from spreading. Harris said the first tier is for people who are HIV positive with an "uncontrolled disease that have positive viral titers." The second tier of for people with HIV disease who have "controlled viral titers, meaning they are under effective treatment." Lastly, the third tier is for high-risk contacts.

"The state of Indiana has said they're going to maybe loosen up the tier system toward the end of August," Harris said. "There's been purchases made by the federal government to try to secure more vaccine, so there will be more vaccine available as the year goes on. And that of course will lead to more general administration of the vaccine."

Right now, Harris said monkeypox is far less of a public health risk than COVID-19 since local numbers for the disease are relatively small. He added that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a new dosing scale for the vaccine, which means one vial can now treat five people instead of one. The FDA on Tuesday said the first shot of the vaccine is followed up by a second shot two weeks later that officials stressed is critical to ensuring protection.

"There's no plans at this point to start just general population vaccinations, and there's no reason to, at this point, to start generalized health care provider vaccinations and things like that," Harris said. "That may be coming in the future, I mean, to put it into context there's been about 77 cases in the state of Indiana, we've only had two in Floyd County."

Also in southern Indiana, Clark County has reported one case of monkeypox, which is contained. The health department has been able to vaccinate about 50 people so far. But, like Floyd County, it has a limited supply of the vaccine and is using them for close contacts or high-risk people.

Harris said those who find themselves in Indiana's tier system should have a relationship with a primary care provider or specialty clinic that treats HIV and contact them.

"A lot of places are starting to collect names and assign people tiers, so that when it comes your turn you can get the shot that you need, or should say actually two shots that you need, so that's probably the best thing" he said. "There's also a lot of behavior changes and safer sex things that you can do to try to protect yourself."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued guidance on how individuals can protect themselves, which can be found in the PDF below or by clicking here. For information about signs and symptoms of monkeypox from the CDC, click here.

Download PDF

For information about getting a monkeypox vaccine in Indiana and to find a clinic, click here. For Indiana's monkeypox resource center, click here.

In Kentucky, Jefferson County has confirmed seven cases of monkeypox. A spokesperson for the Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness said its vaccine supply is also limited, and that vaccines are distributed "from the federal level to the state level" before being distributed to local jurisdictions.

For information about how Louisville health officials are handling monkeypox, getting tested and vaccinated, click here.

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