LFCHD MPV Vax Scheduling Change; KY Dept for Pub Health: Current Criteria for Receiving the MPV Vaccine

[+ inf_jes]

TL; WR? Please roll your eyes and click here.

Per this link, for any Kentuckian willing to travel to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department in central Kentucky they have changed the way to request a monkeypox virus vaccine.

Recently, scheduling same day vaccination appointments was done online using the above link. Starting this past Monday (21NOV22), you must again call them at (859) 288-2483 and chose option 2 in order to schedule same day appointments to receive the vaccine. The days they administer it are Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Of special note is that per the above linked website: You do not have to be a Fayette County resident to receive the vaccine. You do have to be a resident of Kentucky, however. When I received my vaccinations earlier in the year, there was no cost nor was my insurance information requested. If that is a concern, you will have to ask when you call.

YMMV, but I think that your best bet to have multiple appointment options for a same day vaccination is to call immediately after 08:00 AM Eastern Time (don't waste your time trying to call prior to 08:00 AM; sadly, the system will allow you to at times and it will even seem as if you are in the call queue; you are not), press option 2 as soon as you reach the automated system, put your phone on speaker or connect some buds, and do something constructive while you wait.

Telephone call hold wait times to reach an actual human can be 30+ minutes depending on the day and area health conditions (a high influenza or COVID-19 transmission rate locally, for instance, is likely to cause longer telephone call hold wait times). Wednesdays tend to have the shortest telephone call hold wait time on an average week. You will hear an occasional countdown of your place in the hold queue. Being ready to go to the clinic if you are local(ish) can be helpful, too, in case there's an upcoming AM time that works best for your schedule once you finally reach that human.

Although as of this posting, the above linked website only mentions they will be closed for Thanksgiving, I would expect them to be closed on Monday, 26DEC22, since Xmas is on a Sunday. Idrk.

Concerned about keloid scars on your inner forearms? Consider simply checking the box on the short form you must complete and sign prior to receiving your vaccination indicating that you have a history of keloid scarring and be prepared to verbally verify that when you are called back to receive your vaccine (don't freak out, the nurse is simply going to make sure you didn't check that in error; you might simply state that you have a history of them on your torso from chickenpox or a punch biopsy or a minor accident when they ask and they will give you a subcutaneous dose instead; just try to keep your story straight for your second dose). Remember, this is the health department. Unless you are a regular patient there, they have no way of knowing your entire medical history nor are they interested in finding it out, and they are not going to demand you show them a keloid scar. No one there has time for that.

I am not a fan of dishonesty in healthcare nor am I trying to tell anyone what to do nor give medical advice. However, if that specific concern is the only roadblock preventing you from being vaccinated and you continue to engage in activities that place you (and thus potentially others) at risk, then I am amoral enough to look the other way in this case. We have an opportunity within our community to stamp this out, just like we do with meningococcal disease. 
 

I will post the current (as of this posting) Kentucky Department for Public Health criteria below, but neither I nor the men I know who have gone to the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department clinic to be vaccinated have ever been asked to identify what criteria we met to receive it. 

The below information is culled from the above linked site, but you can also view it as a PDF here, which I found at KDPH's page about monkeypox here. KDPH's page is especially helpful to my fellow Kentuckians, because below the link to the PDF listing the current vaccination criteria is a map showing current vaccination sites and below the map is a list of each one alphabetized by county. There are sites in 54 of Kentucky's 120 counties. However, I grew up in this state, so I know how easy it can be to become the talk of the town even if you journey 2 or even 3 counties away for something. If you feel as if your privacy will be better protected coming to Lexington, you are apparently welcome to do so.

Per the KDPH as above, the current criteria includes anyone who reports any of the following:

• Close contact to someone with known or suspected monkeypox virus (direct skin-to-skin contact or other close contact)
• Diagnosis of HIV
• Diagnosis of chlamydia, gonorrhea, or early syphilis, within the prior 12 months.
• Receiving medications to prevent HIV infection (PrEP)
• Exchanging sex for money or nonmonetary items 
• Attending an event/venue where there was a high risk of exposure to an individual(s) with monkeypox virus through skin-to-skin or sexual contact.
• Gay, bisexual, or other men who have sex with men, or transgender people who are sexually active
• Laboratory workers who routinely perform monkeypox or orthopox virus testing
• Healthcare professionals who have had high-risk occupational exposure without using recommended personal protective equipment in the past 14 days
• Individuals who, on a case-by-case basis, are determined at high risk for contracting monkeypox.

TL; DR? Please roll your eyes and click here.

Edited November 25, 2022 by inf_jes
Grammar

[+ Unicorn]

In case anyone is interested, the state of Kentucky has had 86 cases of MP in total as of 11/23/22:

https://www.chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/dehp/idb/Documents/MPXReport.pdf

The last prior report was 10/26/22, at which time 67 cases had been reported:

https://www.chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/dehp/idb/mpweekly/MPXReport10272022.pdf

This means that during those 4 weeks, there were a total of 19 cases in the entire state, or 0.68 cases a day for the entire state (and falling). Just to put things into perspective...

[+ Unicorn]

Well, the data ending in 11/27/22 just came out, and it looks as though MPX has been essentially eradicated in the US (now at 7 cases per day in the entire USA):

https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/response/2022/mpx-trends.html

Same for Canada, showing less than one case per day over the entire kingdom:

https://health-infobase.canada.ca/monkeypox/#a4

Edited December 1, 2022 by Unicorn

[+ Unicorn]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/united-states-end-mpox-emergency-declaration-2022-12-02/

"Given the low number of cases today, HHS does not expect that it needs to renew the emergency declaration when it ends on January 31, 2023," U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement on Friday.

[Luv2play]

On 11/28/2022 at 8:32 PM, Unicorn said:

In case anyone is interested, the state of Kentucky has had 86 cases of MP in total as of 11/23/22:

https://www.chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/dehp/idb/Documents/MPXReport.pdf

The last prior report was 10/26/22, at which time 67 cases had been reported:

https://www.chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/dehp/idb/mpweekly/MPXReport10272022.pdf

This means that during those 4 weeks, there were a total of 19 cases in the entire state, or 0.68 cases a day for the entire state (and falling). Just to put things into perspective...

A comforting word from Dr. De Minimus unless you happen to be one of the 19 unfortunate souls who came down with Mpox in Kentucky. 

[+ Unicorn]

4 hours ago, Marc in Calif said:

I'm sure that you will not want to attribute the decline in mpox in the United States to vaccines...

I would ask you not to put words into my mouth. There are various theories as to why the virus died out, as you pointed out. I do not know which factor was most important--nor does anyone else. My partner and I received the first dose of the vaccine late last summer when the virus was still prevalent, and I'm a firm proponent of vaccines. When I noticed the data from the CDC showed the epidemic was dying out, I presented their data (along with the Canadian data), and suggested that the benefit of the vaccine at that time was quite minimal, and the risks of the vaccine probably greater. 

You'd think I was some 16th Century astronomer suggesting that the earth rotated around the sun instead of the other way around, the way some of the usual suspects came out with pitchforks and torches. Only one person actually questioned the accuracy of the data. No one else even addressed the data, just expressed their displeasure with personal attacks and fallacious arguments.

As it turned out, I was right, as usual, and the usual suspects didn't and won't apologize for their attacks, as usual. 

[mike carey]

Moderator's Note

Ladies and gentlemen, a gentle reminder that this thread is about scheduling an Mpox vaccination in Kentucky, and at a stretch the availability of vaccination appointments elsewhere. It is not a place for revisiting discussions about whether vaccinations are still needed or for whom it is a good idea. You will recall that another thread that drifted into a willing debate on those lines was closed with cause. Off-topic comments are liable to be hidden without notice.