The city’s Health Department is offering Monkeypox vaccines to Detroiters who have been exposed to the virus or suspect they might have been.
The city’s doses of the Jynneos vaccine are being provided from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Health Department, 100 Mack Avenue, as well as the Wayne HIV/STI Clinic, 50 E. Canfield. The Wayne HIV/STI Clinic will also provide the vaccines from 8 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on the first and third Saturday of each month.
“The Detroit Health Department is providing doses of this vaccine to any Detroiter who may have been exposed or suspects they have been exposed in an effort to help mitigate spread of the Monkeypox virus,” Denise Fair Razo, the city’s chief public health officer, said in a Friday statement.
The vaccine will be used as first doses with initial allocations Detroit received from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Detroiters are eligible for the vaccine if they have had a known Monkeypox exposure or have “risk behaviors in geographies, settings, events or venues” with known transmission of Monkeypox within the 14 days prior, the health department noted.
Fair Razo urged calm and vigilance earlier this month after the city reported its first probable case of the virus. She also stressed that the risk to the general public is “low,” but there are signs and symptoms of monkeypox that residents should be cognizant of, as well as how the virus is transmitted.
Monkeypox, which presents with a contagious rash, spreads through close skin to skin contact or from direct contact with the lesions. Signs and symptoms are often mild and could include fever, headache, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion.
The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the Jynneos vaccine be administered within four days from the date of exposure to prevent the onset of illness.
If Jynneos is administered up to 14 days following exposure, the vaccine might still prevent development of the illness and also could effectively reduce symptoms if disease occurs.
For information about the Monkeypox virus, and who should get vaccinated, call the Detroit Health Department nurse hotline from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday at (313) 876-4444 or email dhdoutbreak@detroitmi.gov.