Suffolk appointments for monkeypox vaccine fill quickly; Nassau yet to start

Less than 90 minutes after the link to register for an appointment to receive one of 750 monkeypox vaccine doses in Suffolk went live, all the spots filled up, according to a county spokeswoman.

The website — suffolkcountyny.gov/monkeypox — no longer offers appointments. But the county hopes to get more soon, said the spokeswoman, Marykate Guilfoyle.

Meanwhile, in Nassau, the county's 400 doses were supposed to start being administered Monday, county spokesman Christopher Boyle had said Friday. But Northwell Health and Nassau University Medical Center, which were supposed to give the shots, each said Monday they had not yet started.

Suffolk's appointments are for Thursday through Sunday in two gay vacation communities on Fire Island, Cherry Grove and the Pines, the only places in the county the shot is available. Although anyone can get monkeypox, globally, an estimated 98% or 99% of cases in the current outbreak are in men who have sex with men, according to the epidemiologist Dr. Jay Varma. 

Monkeypox, which is rarely fatal, is transmitted by skin contact with lesions, but also face-to-face during prolonged exposure.

Nowhere in the state outside New York City got more doses than Suffolk, the state Health Department said last week, citing concern over Fire Island.

The state, which gets shipments from the federal government, is providing localities with the vaccines.

Guilfoyle said that Suffolk hopes to get additional doses soon, and that those who are eligible should leave a message with 311 to get updates. 

Asked about the Nassau vaccine scheduling, Boyle referred further comment to Northwell and NUMC.

While Boyle said Northwell Health had received its allotment, Northwell spokeswoman Miriam Sholder said Monday that the health system hadn't gotten those vaccines yet and is still evaluating who should receive it.

In an email, NUMC spokeswoman Niki Jones said that the system got 60 doses from the county, and that appointments would be available, for those eligible, beginning Wednesday, via 516-486-6862 or covidvaccine@numc.edu.

As elsewhere in the state, there is no residency requirement to get the shot, which is free. On Monday, the city health department announced that the next allocation of the vaccine, totaling more than 14,500 doses, is expected to arrive.

Appointments open at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, July 12, with a scheduling link via nyc.gov/health/monkeypox. For the prior shipment to the city, about 6,000 doses, appointments also went quickly, within 10 minutes, the city has said.

On Monday, Mayor Eric Adams sent a letter to President Joe Biden asking that vaccines be allocated based on the case count — the city has 20% of the nation's cases but got just 10% of the vaccine allocation, the letter said — and urging that the recommended weekslong interval between the first and second shots of the vaccine be extended, so that more people can get first doses and be afforded some protection.

There were four known cases among Suffolk residents, and one Nassau resident as of Monday, according to the state Health Department's website. There were 238 cases statewide as of Monday; 223 city residents and at least 866 cases nationwide, according to government websites.

David Kilmnick, president of the LGBT Network, a Long Island-based nonprofit, said of the current vaccine supply: "It's not enough." He and Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said Friday that they hoped to be able to expand vaccination to the Suffolk mainland.

Eligibility 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.

The state eligibility criteria are: people who have been exposed within the past 14 days; "members of the gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender-nonconforming community and other communities of men who have sex with men and who have engaged in intimate or skin-to-skin contact with others in the past 14 days areas where monkeypox is spreading."

Also eligible are those "who have had skin-to-skin contact with someone in a social network experiencing monkeypox activity, including men who have sex with men who meet partners through an online website, digital application ('app'), or social event, such as a bar or party."