By Eli Walsh. Bay City News.
Oakland will receive an additional 2,400 doses of smallpox 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 in the California 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.
The 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 most at risk of contracting the virus.
Federal regulators gave their approval last month to administer the simian smallpox vaccine just below 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 suggested that intradermal vaccines will provide immunity similar to simian smallpox 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.
You may be interested in: California will refer to simian pox as "MPX" to avoid stigmatization of the name.
