Health

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New White House monkeypox strategy targets Pride events

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The White House will announce today it is zeroing in on the population most at risk currently of contracting and spreading the monkeypox virus: men who have sex with men. A pilot program rolls out this weekend at Charlotte Pride. The Biden administration’s deputy director for monkeypox response, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, described the new effort to LGBTQ Nation ahead of the White House announcement. That starts with bumping up the supply of the vaccine for local health jurisdictions where large LGBTQ events are happening. The program sets aside 50,000 doses of vaccine from the Strategic National Stockpile that jurisdictions can request on top […]

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LGBTQ+ charities and Truvada-maker Gilead launch $5 million monkeypox fund

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Leading LGBTQ+ charities including GLAAD, and pharma company Gilead have teamed up to support responses to the monkeypox outbreak. The coalition, which also includes the Human Rights Campaign, the National Black Justice Coalition, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the National Minority AIDS Council, was announced on 9 August. Gilead, which makes PrEP pills Truvada and Descovy, has pledged up to $5 million in global grant funding to support a public education and vaccine hesitancy campaign, a public policy response and a global outbreak emergency fund. The fund will issue grants of up to $50,000 to pre-existing Giliead grantee organisations that […]

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New 988 Suicide Lifeline seeks to meet LGBTQ community’s unique needs

LGBTQI+ individuals are more likely than their counterparts to exhibit suicidal behavior. According to data reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2019, nearly half of students identifying as gay, lesbian or bisexual reported seriously considered suicide. These students experienced a near fourfold increase in suicide attempts compared with heterosexual students. LGBTQI+ adults are also at greater risk of suicide. According to the Substance Use and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA) 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 15.9 percent of LGB respondents ages 26 to 49 reported serious suicidal thoughts within the past year, and 2.1 percent […]

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If monkeypox spreads through sexual contact, is it an STD?

For most of the six decades that monkeypox has been known to affect people, it was not known as a disease that spreads through sex. Now that has changed. The current outbreak is by far the biggest involving the virus, and it’s been designated a global emergency. So far, officials say, all evidence indicates that the disease has spread mainly through networks of men who have sex with men. “It clearly is spreading as an STI (sexually transmitted infection) at this point,” said Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. WHO declares monkeypox a global health emergency as […]

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Monkeypox outbreak in the U.K. may be peaking, health officials say

British health authorities said Friday the monkeypox outbreak across the country may be peaking and that the epidemic’s growth rate has slowed. The U.K.’s Health Security Agency said in a statement there were “early signs that the outbreak is plateauing,” with 2,859 cases detected since May. No deaths have been reported. Last month, authorities estimated the outbreak was doubling in size about every two weeks, but the number of new infections has dropped in recent weeks. “While the most recent data suggest the growth of the outbreak has slowed, we cannot be complacent,” said Dr. Meera Chand, Director of Clinical and Emerging […]

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Monkeypox vaccine: Australia secures 450,000 doses as EU struggles to roll out jab

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The Australian government is to import 450,000 monkeypox vaccine doses to help tackle a rise in cases. Health minister Mark Butler told reporters on Thursday (4 August) the government had negotiated at least 450,000 doses of the third-generation Bavarian-Nordic vaccine to be prioritised for specific at-risk groups including gay and bisexual men. The government began negotiating vaccine distribution on 20 May, according to Butler, just one day after the first confirmed case in Australia. At the current time of reporting, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that at least 53 cases of the disease have been reported in Australia […]

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Moderna May Create mRNA-Based Monkeypox Vax

ABC News reports: Amid growing concerns over the potential threat of monkeypox, executives from Moderna said Wednesday they have initiated a research program to consider whether the company could create a monkeypox vaccine with mRNA technology. “We’re obviously very aware of the monkeypox concern and obviously very sensitive to recent announcements,” Moderna President Stephen Hoge said during an investor call. “Our platform is pretty well established and our ability to rapidly scale has been demonstrated. If we were to go after a monkeypox clinical development program, it would be to very quickly progress toward an approvable set of endpoints in a […]

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Just how effective are monkeypox vaccines? Here’s what we know—and don’t.

As monkeypox continues to spread worldwide, health officials have recommended high-risk individuals get vaccinated as soon as possible—but research is limited on just how effectively the available vaccines prevent infection, Randy Dotinga writes for MedPage Today. How the US plans to vaccinate against monkeypox The US boosts vaccine supply to combat monkeypox CDC has confirmed 6,326 cases of monkeypox across 48 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The states most impacted by the outbreak so far are New York with 1,617 cases, California with 826 cases, and Illinois with 533 cases. To reduce the risk of viral transmission, health officials have […]

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Southern Decadence “Will Be A Superspreader Event” Without MPX Vaccine Availability

The Louisiana Illuminator reports: Southern Decadence, advertised as the largest LGBTQ+ festival held annually in the Deep South, is scheduled for Labor Day weekend (Sept. 1-5) in New Orleans. It typically attracts 100,000 to 300,000 participants and is a major economic boon to the city in a season when tourism is otherwise sluggish. Health officials at the state and local level say Louisiana’s meager vaccine supply will leave the state vulnerable to a large monkeypox outbreak following such a massive event. Southern Decadence could also further the virus spread in other parts of the country if visitors become infected while in New […]

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Why is Ron DeSantis’s surgeon general trying to lower public trust in the monkeypox vaccine?

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Joseph Ladapo — Florida’s surgeon general appointed by the state’s anti-LGBTQ Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis — is trying to make people distrust the monkeypox vaccine, stating that there is “little data” on it, which is misleading. Ladapo’s position is hardly surprising considering that he spent years spreading COVID-19 disinformation and echoing DeSantis’ distrust in vaccines. On Tuesday, DeSantis criticized the Democratic governors of California, Illinois, and New York for declaring states of emergency over monkeypox. The declarations give their governments greater ability to mobilize resources against the virus. (U.S. President Joe Biden declared a national state of emergency for monkeypox […]

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