While Still Quite Rare Here In The US, Clade 1b Mpox Is A Looming Threat. Public Health Subsidized Vaccinations -- For Those At Risk -- Should Begin (Again).

The NY Times has a well-sourced story, on what the longer term outbreak of Clade 1b Mpox might mean for the gay and bi-sexual communities (and sex workers of all genders), here in the US.

At about $300 per shot for the retail, branded Mpox vaccines (two varieties are available, and two doses are needed for maximum protection) -- a reasonably high proportion of people at high risk of Mpox (including those who are already HIV+), are less likely to have any form of insurance at all. . . and the ACA/HHS gatekeepers have yet to establish a designated level of coverage -- for Mpox co-infections.

So we wait, in a rather precarious position here now:

. . .A particularly deadly form of mpox, formerly called monkeypox, has led to more than 48,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths in Africa this year. The Biden administration has donated one million doses of the vaccine to affected countries.

But in the United States, mpox vaccines are out of reach for many people who need them.

In the 2022 outbreak that reached this country, doses of the mpox vaccine, Jynneos, were made available for free from the federal stockpile. That arrangement ended in April, when the vaccine became available commercially.

But insurance companies do not yet cover the vaccine or, if they do, reimburse only a tiny fraction of the cost. Some young gay or bisexual men hesitate to use insurance, because they are not out to their families. . . .

Do be excellent to one another. In truth -- we are all our brothers', and sisters' -- keepers.

नमस्ते