City Offering Free First Dose of Jynneos Vaccine for Monkeypox Prevention on Thursday

Pasadenans can get their first dose of the Jynneos vaccine to prevent monkeypox for free on Thursday, Aug. 25 from 4:30 – 7:00 p.m. at The Boulevard on 3199 E. Foothill Blvd. 

Appointments are required to get the free vaccine as limited doses are available. Text Pasadena Public Health Department at (626) 240-8784 to schedule an appointment.

U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends that vaccination with Jynneos can be considered for people determined to be at high risk for infection to prevent monkeypox disease.

Jynneos vaccine is licensed as a series of two doses administered 28 days (4 weeks) apart and is approved by the CDC for the prevention of monkeypox disease in individuals 18 years of age and older at high risk for monkeypox infection.

Last week, Pasadena’s Interim City Manager Cynthia Kurtz proclaimed a local emergency in response to monkeypox. 

In an effort to stop the spread of monkeypox and make the monkeypox vaccine more readily accessible to those at highest risk, Pasadena Public Health Department (PPHD) is also expanding the eligibility criteria for the vaccine, effective immediately.

As of Aug. 18, PPHD has 15 confirmed or probable cases of monkeypox in Pasadena. There are reportedly 2,356 cases in California as of Aug. 17, according to the California Department of Public Health.

Similarly, Los Angeles County again expanded the eligibility criteria for the monkeypox vaccine, even as supply of the doses remains limited.

According to the county Department of Public Health, the vaccine will now be offered to gay or bisexual men and transgender people who have had skin- to-skin intimate contact with people at large venues or events in the past 14 days. 

Also newly eligible are people of any gender or sexual orientation who engaged in commercial and/or transactional sex in the past 14 days — that includes people who engaged in sexual activity in exchange for money, shelter, food or other provisions.

Shots were also available for gay and bisexual men and transgender people with a diagnosis of rectal gonorrhea or early syphilis within the past year. Also eligible for the shots are gay or bisexual men or transgender people who are on HIV pre-exposure prophylaxix, or PrEP, or who attended or worked at a commercial sex venue or other venue where they had anonymous sex or sex with multiple partners — such as at a sauna, bathhouse or sex club — in the past 21 days.

As of Monday, Aug. 23, LA county identified 1,209 confirmed or probable cases of monkeypox — including those in Long Beach and Pasadena, which both have their own health departments — up from 1,036 on Thursday. 

Almost all of the cases are in men, the majority of them gay or bisexual.

Monkeypox is generally spread through intimate skin-to-skin contact, resulting from infectious rashes and scabs, though respiratory secretions and bodily fluids exchanged during extended physical episodes, such as sexual intercourse, can also lead to transmission, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. It can also be transmitted through the sharing of items such as bedding and towels.

Symptoms include fresh pimples, blisters, rashes, fever and fatigue. There is no specific treatment. People who have been infected with smallpox, or have been vaccinated for it, may have immunity to monkeypox.

According to health officials, the vaccine can prevent infection if given before or shortly after exposure to the virus.