Palm Springs needs more monkeypox vaccine, say DAP Health, Raul Ruiz

A vial containing the monkeypox vaccine.

Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley need far more doses of monkeypox vaccines given their concentration of gay men, who have been most at risk during the current outbreak, say the head of a key health-care provider and the valley’s congressman.

Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-La Quinta, said current state plans only call for Riverside County to get about 1,000 doses, enough to vaccinate around 500 people, only some of whom would be in the desert.

“However, local infectious disease experts say that they would need 10,000 vaccines to cover the area’s high-risk populations,” Ruiz wrote Thursday to Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state secretary of health and human services.

He urged California to consider special vaccine clinics in the Palm Springs area, as health officials have done for other popular gay tourist destinations such as Provincetown, Massachusetts, and Fire Island outside New York City.



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