New York is one of the first places in the country to offer monkeypox vaccines to the public.

Gay and bisexual men in New York who are at “high risk” of contracting monkeypox are offered a vaccine to protect themselves from infection.

Nearly 30 cases of the virus that causes the rash, which is usually only seen in Africa, have been discovered in the Big Apple. Almost all of them have been among men who have had sex with men.

To help contain the growing number of cases, the New York Department of Health opened a clinic on Thursday to launch a two-dose Jynneous vaccine, which is 85 percent effective against infections, to help control the outbreak. .

Available to men aged 18 and over who have had multiple or anonymous sexual partners in the past 14 days.

More than 100 people lined up for the jab at the Chelsea Sexual Health Clinic in Manhattan, which opened at 11am today. Within three hours, the city had to suspend no-schedule appointments due to demand.

The clinic had its appointments until Monday after health officials said they hoped to vacate more places “soon”. Manhattan president Mark Levine said the city has only received 1,000 doses so far.

It came two days before the city’s Pride celebrations, which were expected to attract crowds of more than two million.

While New York City health officials have not announced further guidelines for the weekend, districts that also celebrate Pride, including Chicago and San Francisco, say they will hand out flyers and make “public service announcements” about the disease.

The map above shows the states that have detected cases of monkeypox and the count by state. Red numbers show the change in cases in the last 24 hours

Authorities say Monkeypox vaccines are given at the clinic between 11:00 and 19:00 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.

They did not explain how the patients determined whether they had sex with men or had multiple sexual partners, but this was probably done through a questionnaire.

With the Jynneous vaccine, which uses a weakened virus, patients receive two injections 28 days apart.

It was designed to fight smallpox, but health officials say it could also work against monkey disease because the two viruses are similar.

Following the closing of places today, the ministry said: “We hope to have more appointments soon.

“We are in talks with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to take more doses and explore how to increase our capacity across the city.”

New York was one of the first American cities to begin rolling out monkeypox vaccines on a larger scale.

The city, along with others, including San Francisco, had proposed close contact filming of confirmed cases of monkeypox.

Announcing the launch today, Mayor Eric Adams said, “As I said from day one, we didn’t panic, we were prepared, and this monkeypox vaccine site is another vital tool for keeping New Yorkers healthy.

“Starting today, eligible New Yorkers who may have been exposed to monkeypox can now get the vaccine to stay safe and slow the spread.”

America has now reported a total of 156 cases of the virus in about half of its states nationwide.

However, experts fear that many other cases are currently undetected because they are confused with other diseases or difficulties in accessing testing.

New York has the largest outbreak of any metropolitan area in the entire country.

At the state level, California has the largest outbreak with 40 cases, followed by the state of New York and Illinois with 19 cases.

The Biden administration announced today that it will distribute disease swabs to commercial labs to accelerate diagnostic and control measures.

It comes as America prepares to celebrate even more Pride in major cities this weekend.

Chicago health officials said they will place “special emphasis” on Pride in their warnings this weekend and are printing flyers to circulate at events to guard against monkey disease.

San Francisco also said it would make “public service announcements” to remind people to stay safe during the Pride Parade in the city, which is expected to attract more than 500,000 people.

Most people who get monkeypox have a mild infection that gets better within four weeks.

But statistics show that about one in 100 infected people will develop a serious, death-causing illness.

The disease is mainly transmitted through physical contact with infectious skin lesions or by touching clothing and bedding that has come into contact with a patient.

In rare cases, it can be transmitted even through “continuous” face-to-face contact, the CDC says.

Infected individuals tend to experience a rash on the genital and anal areas as the first symptom, before the rash spreads to the rest of the body. They may also develop flu-like symptoms.