CHARLOTTE — Thousands of monkeypox vaccines have been used in Mecklenburg County since the outbreak started. However, far fewer have been given out in South Carolina.
On Tuesday, Mecklenburg County Health Director Dr. Raynard Washington said since the outbreak started, 115 cases have popped up in the county.
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Channel 9 learned that six of those cases have required hospitalization, but we don’t know when those people were hospitalized or why.
Washington also confirmed a minor has been diagnosed with monkeypox. He said the person is under 18, but would not give the exact age or when the minor was diagnosed.
As of Tuesday, there were 663 people on the waitlist for a vaccine. Washington believes those on the list will be able to book appointments by the end of the week.
So far, about 3,300 people have been vaccinated for monkeypox in Mecklenburg County, which is much more than the entire state of South Carolina.
To date, South Carolina has received more than 4,200 monkeypox vaccines from the federal government. But so far, it’s only given out 648 of them, according to the state’s Department of Health and Environmental Control.
“I would say we have adequate supply to put up with our anticipated demand,” said Dr. Jonathan Knoche, a consultant for DHEC.
He wouldn’t call the excess amount of unused vaccine a surplus, because the state recently received 2,700 new doses in August alone. He also added there’s still high demand for the shot in the Palmetto State.
“We certainly have people who have scheduled appointments weeks out and we don’t feel like that’s adequate. So we are working to increase the number of appointment slots,” he said.
Knoche said South Carolina won’t receive more vaccines until they use the ones they had.
A spokesman for DHEC said they have “not seen a significant trend of residents from other states coming to DHEC health departments for the vaccine.”
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However, it is happening in Mecklenburg County.
“We, in Mecklenburg, have vaccinated people from as far as California, Colorado, Oklahoma, Illinois, Wisconsin, West Virginia, New Jersey, Virginia, South Carolina, many from Florida,” said Washington.
The shots are given out to states by the federal government.
Knoche said South Carolina would redistribute vaccines around different regions of the state when needed, but it would likely not send or share their doses with other states that could be in short supply.
(Watch the video below: Local pharmacist offers experimental monkeypox drug as cases balloon)
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