Lexington to offer monkeypox vaccine at regular clinic. Here’s how to get an appointment

After successfully launching a monkeypox vaccination clinic Thursday, the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department plans to continue the service for three days each week going forward.

In a Friday Facebook post, the public health agency said it will accept some limited, same-day appointments for the monkeypox vaccine every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at the department’s standing public health clinic.

Appointments for COVID-19 vaccines can also be made for clinic days.

Appointments for the monkeypox vaccine can be made online, though the vaccinations are currently limited to vulnerable populations due to supply issues, the department said.

You can make an appointment online at the health department’s website, lfchd.org/monkeypox.

“While monkeypox can pose a risk to everyone and is spread through close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact, the limited number of vaccines at this time means prioritization must be made for those people at highest risk,” the LFCHD wrote on its Facebook post Friday.

Lexington has its first case of monkeypox, health official says.

Who is eligible to receive the monkeypox vaccine?

According to the LFCHD, the following people meet the criteria:

1. Men who have sex with men, including those who identify as gay, bisexual, transgender or who are gender non-conforming. This also includes those who have had multiple or anonymous sexual partners in the past 14 days, those who’ve had a diagnosis of gonorrhea or early-stage syphilis within the past 12 months and those who are taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).

2. People who attended an event or venue where there was a high risk of exposure to an individual(s) with confirmed monkeypox through skin-to-skin or sexual contact in the last 14 days.

3. Individuals who, on a case-by-case basis, are determined to have reasonable suspicion of recent direct skin-to-skin contact to a known or suspected case of monkeypox.

You must be at least 18 years old, and you do not have to be a Fayette County resident to be eligible.

Thursday, LFCHD announced it had administered more than 500 free monkeypox vaccines at its first clinic offering at Central Baptist Church.

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