As the cases of Monkeypox continues to rise, particularly with men who have sex with men (MSM), the community has noticed two glaring issues: the disparity in which communities are receiving the vaccine and the number of vaccines left.

With Black Pride this last weekend, the team at PrEPster took supplies of the vaccine to address the fact that the majority of people receiving the vaccine would appear to be cis, white, gay men. They brought 10% of London's available vaccines, yet still were forced to turn people around as there were not enough vaccines for everyone.

Leaked papers last week suggest that London is down to its last 5,000 vaccines until mid- to late-September, with other NHS trusts reporting even less. Activists have pointed out that earlier this month, the government was able to source almost a million vaccines to vaccinate 1- to 5-year-olds against Polio after it was found in London wastewater, despite seeming to be unable to obtain smallpox vaccines for the LGBTQ+ community. All over the country, people are describing difficulties in getting vaccination appointments, and queues of up to five hours to get walk-in jabs at available centers. 56 Dean Street, the sexual health clinic in Soho, has had to scale back most of its operations largely due to the stress that the Monkeypox outbreak has caused on systems.

MPs have already accused the government of "failing" to tackle Monkeypox, which began to spread in the UK in late April. As of last week, there were 3,000 confirmed cases, and government advice is for anyone with multiple sexual partners – particularly MSM – to get vaccinated against the virus. Whilst highly unlikely to be fatal in most cases, the symptoms are still particularly unpleasant and require individuals to isolate themselves for up to 21 days.

Related myGwork articles:

WHO Advises LGBTQ+ Men To Limit Number Of Partners To Reduce Risk Of Monkeypox

UK Health Officials Issue New guidance as Monkeypox Cases Continue to Surge

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