The conference follows the World Health Organization’s designation of monkeypox as a global public health emergency on July 23.
Turner said he and Hidalgo will send a joint letter to the White House to request more doses of the vaccine as the city and county face rising case numbers.
“It is extremely important that Houstonians know that the community threat level to the general population continues to remain low, but the number of cases in the Houston area is rising,” Turner said. “And because of the limited supply of the vaccine, it is still very concerning.”
As of July 25, there have been a cumulative 47 cases in the city of Houston and 10 cases in unincorporated Harris County, according to Hidalgo; the CDC reported 107 cases in Texas and 3,487 in the United States.
Hidalgo said discussions with her colleagues from across the country have made securing sufficient vaccines a priority as other areas struggle with limited supply and greater case numbers than Houston.
According to prior Community Impact Newspaper reporting, the CDC allocated 5,024 doses of the Jynneos vaccine to the Houston Health Department, which then provided 1,508 doses to Harris County Public Health.
Hidalgo said fewer than 200 of the 5,024 doses have been administered thus far. Because the vaccine is administered in a two-dose series four weeks apart, an accompanying round of doses must be reserved for the initial recipients of the vaccine.
Community members who have a new or unknown lesion should get tested and limit intimate and sexual contact with anonymous partners, according to Hidalgo. For vaccine information, contact HCPH’s monkeypox hotline at 832-927-0707 or HHD at 832-393-4220.
