Advice from the CDC (PDF)

Federally distributed monkeypox vaccine is coming to Seattle but only enough to provide protection for the highest priority exposure cases. Meanwhile, health officials say sex clubs — including some of the few remaining in Seattle on Capitol Hill — represent environments with “a higher likelihood of spreading monkeypox.”

Chris Peterson, general manager of Steamworks Seattle, says his Capitol Hill bathhouse is working with health officials and others in the industry to try to bring the orthopoxvirus vaccine and awareness directly to patrons with hopes of hosting at-venue clinics.

But officials at Public Health – Seattle & King County say there isn’t enough vaccine being sent here for anything but the highest priority exposure cases.

The first round of distribution allocated to King County will include only 250 courses of vaccine from CDC.

“With this extremely limited supply, we are reserving these doses primarily for people who are close contacts of a person with known monkeypox and with a high and intermediate risk of exposure to help prevent close contacts from getting monkeypox or reduce the severity of their illness,” a Public Health spokesperson tells CHS.

So far, fewer than 20 cases have been confirmed in the county.

Public Health says it expects 710 courses of vaccine  — around 1,420 doses — will arrive in the distributions currently planned for King County. The Washington State Department of Health and CDC have told officials here that they anticipate the second allocation of vaccine later in July.

Peterson says Steamworks locations in other major cities including Toronto, Chicago, Vancouver, and Berkeley have already started hosting vaccine clinics in conjunction with local health departments.

But for Seattle and King County, the federal prioritization is, so far, not high enough to warrant increased distribution.

“The national supply of vaccine for monkeypox is currently limited, although more is expected later in the summer and into the fall,” the Public Health spokesperson said.

The vaccine planning comes as the CDC has published new guidelines regarding the orthopoxvirus. They are mostly common sense and not terribly surprising. “Festivals, events, and concerts where attendees are fully clothed and unlikely to share skin-to-skin contact are safer,” one item reads, “However, attendees should be mindful of activities (like kissing) that might spread monkeypox.”

“A rave, party, or club where there is minimal clothing and where there is direct, personal, often skin-to-skin contact” has some risk, the CDC says.

And “enclosed spaces, such as back rooms, saunas, sex clubs, or private and public sex parties where intimate, often anonymous sexual contact with multiple partners occurs,” they “have a higher likelihood” of spreading the virus.

At Steamworks, Peterson says he is in regular communication with county health officials and was slated to meet Thursday to learn more about the latest updates as part of a quarterly bathhouse coalition meeting.

He believes another population should also be prioritized for vaccine access — the workers at Steamworks and fellow Hill bathhouse Club Z. “In addition to asking them for a vaccine clinic for MSM (men who have sex with men) somewhere in King County, I’ve also been advocating that our staff and the staff of Club Zodiac be prioritized for vaccines,” Peterson writes.

You can read more about the risks and how best to protect yourself in this post from Public Health.

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