After mpox outbreak, vaccinations cratered. Now, officials are renewing the push

Late last summer, the mpox outbreak in California peaked, with the state reporting an average of nearly 100 new cases per day in August.

Amid a robust vaccination campaign, new infections dropped sharply and quickly.

By September, California was reporting an average of about 50 new cases per day, with that rate dropping below 10 by the end of the next month.

As case rates fell, so did vaccination rates. Health officials across the state are now renewing their push to vaccinate vulnerable people, including members of the LGBTQ+ community, ahead of June Pride Month and summer events.

Mpox is rarely fatal but can cause painful rashes and lesions, as well as flu-like symptoms. It typically spreads through close skin-to-skin contact, which can include sex.

As of Friday, nearly 250 people in California have been hospitalized with mpox. Nationwide, roughly 30,400 cases have been reported, along with 42 deaths.

“As we head into the summer months, and as we’re heading into these celebrations, there may be more of these events that are happening that could potentially facilitate mpox transmission,” said Andrea Kim, director of the vaccine preventable disease control program at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Kim said that the outbreak began around the time of last year’s Pride celebrations. As that part of the calendar rolls around again, health officials are emphasizing the need to get more people vaccinated.

Though anyone can catch the virus, many of the cases confirmed during last year’s outbreak were among men who have sex with men.

“If we’ve learned anything from COVID, it’s that if we all did the right thing in the first place, it makes it a lot harder for these things to reemerge,” said Craig Bowers, chief marketing and external affairs officer for APLA Health, a Los Angeles nonprofit that provides healthcare to the LGBTQ+ community.

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