Black community leaders who were on the front lines of Georgia’s mpox response are heeding the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s warning about a possible resurgence. The CDC released a health alert on May 15, warning that mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, could resurface in drastic numbers as people gather for summer festivities. The […]
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State Gives Out 4,000 Monkeypox Vaccines at Black Pride, Expands Eligibility
The Georgia Department of Public Health says it was able to distribute more than 4,000 monkeypox vaccine doses to people during Atlanta Black Pride weekend. Nearly half of those — 48% — went to Black people. The state’s public health department participated in President Joe Biden’s initiative to get extra monkeypox vaccines to certain states […]
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Monkeypox Worries Loom as Atlanta Black Pride Starts
Quinten Fleming just moved to Atlanta from Raleigh, North Carolina, two weeks ago. Fleming, a business analyst for a pharmaceutical company, is looking forward to going to his first Atlanta Black Pride Weekend as a resident. He also has some concerns. With the looming threat of monkeypox, he’s getting flashbacks to the coronavirus pandemic. He […]
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What Black Pride Organizers Are Doing to Address Monkeypox
Before the pandemic, Amber Moore remembers over 40,000 people coming to town every Labor Day weekend for Atlanta Black Pride. Moore, the chief operating officer of Atlanta Black Pride Inc., and other event organizers are now facing a new challenge: the state’s monkeypox outbreak. Nearly 80% of cases in the state are Black men who […]
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Monkeypox Vaccine Distribution Is Inequitable, but Experts See Efforts Working
For health advocates in Georgia, the monkeypox outbreak has reignited discussion on racial inequity. Whereas Black people make up nearly 80% of cases in the state, they represent less than half of the vaccine doses. The state has distributed more than 17,000 vaccine doses, which have gone to people who are sexually active and have […]
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How Stigma Affects Public Health Response to Monkeypox
Rig Rush is frustrated. The global marketing director with Impulse Group — an organization providing HIV/AIDS education for gay men — says it has been hard to watch state and federal health departments respond to the worldwide monkeypox outbreak. Like COVID-19, the vaccine and testing rollout in Georgia has been slow. And there’s concern that […]
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Where to Get Tested and Vaccinated for Monkeypox in Metro Atlanta
The worldwide monkeypox outbreak continues to spread across the country, and Georgia ranks fifth in total cases. The latest tally from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was just over 1,000 cases in the state. In metro Atlanta — which represents a majority of the state’s cases — testing and vaccines for monkeypox […]
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We Spoke to An Atlanta Man with Monkeypox. Here’s What We Learned.
Angelo Perry says he wants to get back to his regular life. He misses his friends, family and having time to build roller skates speckled with glitter. Perry’s world changed on July 22 when he was diagnosed with monkeypox. More than 80% of cases in Georgia where racial data is available have affected Black men […]
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Black Men Make Up Over 80% of Monkeypox Cases in Georgia
The overwhelming majority of monkeypox cases in Georgia have been made up of Black men, according to the state’s public health department. Nancy Nydam, spokesperson for the Georgia Department of Public Health, confirmed to Capital B Atlanta that 82% of the more than 500 monkeypox cases are Black men. “The percentage speaks for itself,” Nydam […]
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CDC Boosts Monkeypox Testing With Cases on the Rise
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is boosting efforts to offer monkeypox testing. On Wednesday, the CDC announced a partnership with Labcorp to address an increase in cases locally and nationwide. Labcorp, one of the largest clinical laboratory testing networks in the country, is aiming to administer 10,000 orthopoxvirus tests per week. The […]