AHF Monkeypox Telecon: L.A. County Health Dept. Must Ramp Up Prevention, Surveillance

AHF Press Teleconference: Thurs., July 7 @ 11:00 am PT

With case numbers increasing rapidly in L.A. and elsewhere and extremely limited vaccine doses available nationwide, AHF will call on the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to ramp up public education on the virus and its prevention, as well as share surveillance data

AHF will also share its own Monkeypox Information Sheet with patients, clients and the general public

AHF, the largest global AIDS organization with treatment clinics or operations in 45 countries, will host a Zoom Press Teleconference THURSDAY, July 7 at 11:00 am PT (2:00 pm ET) to discuss monkeypox in Los Angeles County and its role in the ongoing global outbreak, which has disproportionately affected gay men or men who have sex with men (MSM).

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220706005898/en/

AHF, which diagnosed a few cases of monkeypox in its clinics in Los Angeles and South Florida in the past weeks, will strongly urge the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to swiftly ramp up public education on monkeypox, its prevention and treatment as well as to share surveillance data on the outbreak(s).

AHF’s call for greater prevention education efforts by health officials comes on the heels of news that vaccines for monkeypox remain in extremely limited supply nationwide. On July 1^st, the New York Times reported the U.S. vaccine stockpile held about 56,000 doses and that federal officials expect to receive only another 300,000 doses in the coming weeks, and that other doses—several million—ordered for U.S. use may be anywhere from three to five months away from availability due to manufacturing timelines and/or FDA approvals and clearance.

“There is simply not enough monkeypox vaccine available now or in the immediate pipeline for it to be deployed widely enough to prevent significant transmission of the virus today. As a result, Los Angeles County public health officials have an even greater duty to educate the public and specific affected communities, including gay men and men who have sex with men, about basic prevention strategies they may use to avoid this rapidly spreading virus,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AHF.

The New York Times article also reported there are currently about 5,000 confirmed monkeypox cases in 60 countries with another 5,500 suspected cases under investigation.

“Has L.A. County even been doing monkeypox disease surveillance?” added Weinstein. “Unlike the early days of COVID, there has been little to NO transparency or sharing of surveillance information with the public. And even when some data were shared—about outbreaks tied to two L.A. parties in June—the information was couched so broadly that it raised more questions or alarm and resulted in a missed opportunity to effectively educate people who may have attended or participated in those events. We urge the Los Angeles County Health Department to get back to basics on educating the public about the prevention of monkeypox.”

As part of efforts to educate its own AHF Healthcare Center patients and clients as well as the general public who may seek free HIV or STD testing at one of AHF Public Health Division’s 35 AHF Wellness Centers in the U.S., AHF created the following AHF Monkeypox Information Sheet: https://www.aidshealth.org?p=79853

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.6 million individuals in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth, follow us @aidshealthcare or subscribe to our AHF podcast “AHFter Hours.”

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220706005898/en/