Long Island to get almost 3,000 more doses of monkeypox vaccine, health officials say

Nearly 3,000 more doses of the scarce vaccine for monkeypox are headed to Long Island, the state Health Department said Tuesday as appointments continue to fill up quickly statewide.    

Of 5,398 doses New York is getting from the federal government, Suffolk is getting the Island's largest share: 1,750. Nassau will get 1,240, while Westchester and Saratoga will receive 1,490 and 620, respectively. New York City has its own allotment, 14,500 doses, from the federal government.

Demand is high: a city signup website began displaying error messages almost immediately after going online Tuesday; all appointments were soon booked, the city health department said. 

Statewide, there were 288 cases as of Tuesday, up from 238 Monday. There are four known cases in Suffolk and one in Nassau, unchanged since Friday.

In Suffolk, all spots were filled less than 90 minutes after the web link to book one of the county's first 750 monkeypox vaccine doses, being given starting Thursday in gay vacation communities on Fire Island, went live Monday.

Meanwhile, in Nassau, the county's first 400 doses are to be administered starting this week, by two designated vaccinators: Northwell Health and Nassau University Medical Center.

NUMC got its provision, 60 doses, on Monday, with vaccinations starting Wednesday. Northwell got its 340 on Monday night, said Northwell spokeswoman Miriam Sholder. 

In contrast with how the city, NUMC and Suffolk are handling appointments — those who think they qualify sign up on their own — Northwell is culling patient medical records to proactively reach out to those who, due to risk factors, doctors think ought to get the vaccine, according to Northwell spokeswoman Michelle Pinto: “Our doctors will get together and decide who would most benefit from receiving the monkeypox vaccine.”

Sholder declined to provide the criteria the hospital is using.

David Kilmnick, president of the LGBT Network, who is involved with the Suffolk rollout, laughed when he heard that Northwell is proactively reaching out to those it believes are at high risk, instead of letting people seek the vaccines themselves.

“This is really what Northwell doing?” he said, calling the plan "bonkers."

He said that information about sexual orientation, and sexual practices, are sometimes too personal for a patient to share with his doctor. Plus, he said, it's unlikely to be clear from medical records whether a person has been exposed, or engaged in a qualifying, high-risk sexual activity, in the prior 14 days — several of the ways one qualifies, under state guidelines, for the vaccine.

“Many gay and bisexual men don’t share with their health providers about their lives, let alone their sexual orientation, because of fear of discrimination and treatment that is hardly culturally competent. So I think this will limit the amount of people that we need to reach, and we should be doing quite the opposite,” he said.

Asked about the criticism, Northwell spokesman Jason Molinet said: "At this moment, we are working with a very limited supply of monkeypox vaccine, but are collaborating closely with state and county department of health officials to get more doses …. The goal is to get vaccine into arms right away." 

Calling the number NUMC provided Monday for vaccine signup — 516-486-6862 — rings to a multistep menu for NUMC’s ambulatory center. There is no readily apparent phone option to sign up for the vaccination. But option 9 on the third branch of menus that lets a caller make appointments with five departments, including "infectious disease," connects to a person who can make the vaccine appointment when asked. Appointments are also available via covidvaccine@numc.edu.

Monkeypox is rarely fatal. It's transmitted by skin contact with lesions, but also face-to-face during prolonged exposure. Although anyone can get monkeypox, globally, an estimated 98% or 99% of cases in the current outbreak have been in men who have sex with men, according to the epidemiologist Dr. Jay Varma.

Eligibility for the vaccine includes those who have been exposed in the past two weeks, as well as men who have had recently had sex with multiple, or anonymous, male sex partners.