MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – South Florida leads the state in number of positive monkeypox cases.
On Tuesday, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced that the county would be taking action.
Recommended Videos
According to a release from the mayor’s office, Miami-Dade has received a limited supply of monkeypox vaccines.
Starting Wednesday at 8 a.m. high-risk residents can make a vaccine appointment at www.miamidade.gov/monkeypox or by calling 1-833-875-0900.
The appointments will be available beginning at two sites, one in Miami Beach and one at Tropical Park. The county said it is working to open additional sites as more vaccines become available.
The high-risk groups include:
- Laboratory personnel and select health care personnel at high risk for monkeypox
- Close contacts of monkeypox cases
- Immunocompromised MSM (men who have sex with men) with HIV (<200 CD4 white blood celld per ml³)
- Other MSM with a recent history of a sexually transmissible diseases (STD)
- All other MSM with HIV who had potential exposure
“Monkeypox is here in Miami-Dade, but we are ready to respond and protect our community,” Levine Cava said in a statement. “The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that we must act as a community to protect ourselves and each other, and we are taking advantage of the lessons learned and the robust infrastructure we still have in place to offer services to those in need of protection against this virus. If you are eligible, we encourage you to get vaccinated against monkeypox and we are working hard alongside all our partners to make more vaccines available in Miami-Dade.”