By Eli Walsh. Bay City News.
Oakland will receive an additional 2,400 doses of the monkeypox vaccine ahead of the city's Pride and Pridefest events, federal officials said this week.
According to the White House, the number of doses administered during both events will be replenished from California's vaccine stockpile.
Federal and state officials also plan to coordinate to disseminate educational information on how to prevent and treat the virus to Oakland Pride and Pridefest attendees.
Supply of the two-dose Jynneos vaccine for smallpox and monkeypox continues to lag behind demand, but federal officials said this week the country is close to having enough vaccine to immunize 1.6 million people who are most at risk from the virus.
Federal regulators last month gave approval to administer the monkeypox vaccine just beneath the surface of the skin instead of the standard vaccination method that involves an injection into muscle or fatty tissue.
State and federal public health officials have suggested that intradermal vaccines will provide monkeypox-like immunity and expand the number of vaccine doses available by a factor of five, because intradermal injections require only one-fifth the dose needed for administration into a person's shoulder or other muscle tissue.
Oakland Pride is scheduled for this Sunday, while Pridefest will take place on September 11.
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