SAN FRANCISCO AT RISK OF AN ‘UNCONTROLLED MONKEYPOX SPREAD’

California Sen. Scott Wiener (D) said the city of San Francisco is veering toward a public health crisis due to the uncontrolled spread of the monkeypox virus in a statement Thursday.

 

The city’s Department of Public Health tweeted Wednesday that its walk-in clinic will close for the remainder of the week due to the vaccine shortage. Other city clinics are working through remaining appointments and joining the DPH center in “urgently asking for more doses.”

 

As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 1,700 San Francisco residents have been vaccinated against the virus, according to the San Francisco DPH.

 

The warning: Wiener said the vaccination rate will continue to be slow, which will cause a spread in the city and surrounding communities. He said “failure to control this outbreak” will harm residents, especially the city’s LGBTQ+ community.

 

“We need an enormous amount of additional vaccine doses, and we need it immediately. The federal government’s failures are threatening to deeply harm our community,” Wiener added. “Once we move past this emergency, we need accountability for these failures — failures that put people’s lives and health in jeopardy.”