There are growing calls for more monkeypox vaccines in Dallas County.
Of the 315 cases confirmed in Texas by the CDC, at least 101 are in Dallas County -- about one-third of the state's total cases. On Monday, Dallas County reported a total of 83 confirmed cases.
The county has the largest number of confirmed cases in Texas, and while it just received a shipment of doses, leaders say more are needed.
Dallas County Health and Human Services Director Dr. Philip Huang says a high proportion of cases originated from a festival and men’s club sauna late last month.
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“I'm hearing anecdotally from other health departments that they're seeing cases that were related to that particular event or some of those events,” said Huang.
Huang says the county ran out of vaccines last week.
Monday night, it received 5,120 monkeypox vaccine doses, more than other North Texas counties. The Texas Department of State Health Services says Tarrant County received 1,000 doses this week, and Denton and Collin Counties each received 500 doses.
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“With the supply that we just received Monday, it’s 5,000-some doses but that's only enough for 2,500 persons, and it’s supposed to last for six weeks, then you can see when you do the math that it’s not actually as much as it sounds,” said Huang.
Right now, doses are limited to priority populations, those with close intimate contact with someone who tested positive and those at the highest risk if they get monkeypox.
“Right now, we don't have near enough vaccines as to what we need,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins.
But more could be coming.
Thursday, the federal government announced it'll allocate 786,000 doses of JYNNEOS vaccine from the strategic national stockpile.
“We're requesting about 10,000 additional vaccines,” said Jenkins, adding more vaccines, more testing and more public awareness are needed to slow the spread.
“It’s very important for people to realize this is not limited to one community, anyone can get or spread monkeypox,” he said.
Earlier this week, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency.
In Dallas County, officials say the threat to the general population still remains low.
