Mpox vaccines available at Suffolk locations through June

Mpox vaccines will be available at various locations in Suffolk County throughout June, county officials announced Friday.

Government officials have said this summer could see a resurgence of mpox, the virus formerly known as monkeypox, amid low vaccination rates and a lack of immunity among those at risk.

Men who have sex with men continue to constitute most cases of the virus, which causes painful lesions but is almost never deadly. A U.S. Centers for Disease Control report said that male-to-male sexual contact drove last year's outbreak.

The vaccine, Jynneos, is administered in two doses several weeks apart.

“Our goal is prevention,” Suffolk health commissioner Gregson Pigott said in a news release. “We ask healthcare providers to refer all patients who feel they may be at risk of contracting the infection to complete the two-dose Jynneos vaccination series.”  

Nassau County has not announced similar vaccination efforts. 

There have been 382 confirmed or probable cases in New York State excluding New York City in the past year with 80 of those cases in Suffolk County and 65 in Nassau County, according to the state Department of Health.

Only 30% of those most at-risk for the disease have been vaccinated statewide, according to the CDC.

The vaccine will be available on the following locations and days:

Pride at the Farm at the Suffolk County Farm and Education Center, Yaphank, Saturday, June 10, 4 to 7 p.m.

Patchogue-Medford Library, 54-60 East Main St., Patchogue, June 13, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Sachem Library, 50 Holbrook Rd., Holbrook, June 20, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

West Babylon Library, 211 Route 109, West Babylon, June 27, noon to 3:30 p.m.

Riverhead Library, 330 Court St., Riverhead, June 28, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Additionally, vaccines will be available through Stony Brook Medicine’s Edie Windsor Healthcare Center in Hampton Bays and at Sun River Health Care Centers throughout the county. Appointments at Edie Windsor can be made by calling 631-287-5990 and appointments at Sun River can be made by visiting sunriver.org/monkeypox-vaccine.

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese covers Suffolk County government and politics. She joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.