Amid an uptick in mpox cases nationwide, Philly health workers increase vaccination efforts

Despite a national rise in reported mpox infections, cases in Philadelphia have so far remained low, health officials say.

Still, this summer, local health organizations who work with men who have sex with men, a higher-risk group for the virus, are increasing vaccination efforts to get more people protected.

“We want to cast as wide a net as possible,” said Stefan Lynch, the director of nursing and integrated services at the Mazzoni Center, a Center City-based health organization for LGBTQ people.

Mpox is a virus similar to smallpox, but its symptoms are milder, including a rash and flulike symptoms. An outbreak began in the United States in 2022, peaking at 3,000 cases per week nationwide that summer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The virus can spread through direct, skin-to-skin contact with mpox rashes or scabs and contact with saliva, mucus, or bodily fluids around the genitals of a person who has mpox, the CDC says. Pregnant people can also pass the virus to their fetus, or their newborn during and after birth.

Gay, bisexual, and trans men who have sex with other men are among those at highest risk, Lynch said, as well as people who have frequent anonymous sex partners.

Earlier this month, the CDC issued a warning on a more severe variant of mpox endemic to Central Africa and increasingly spreading in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. No cases involving that variant have been reported in the U.S.

Case counts related to the variant behind the 2022 mpox outbreak have been largely stable, in part thanks to a vaccination campaign.

But cases nationwide since January are higher than during the same time period in 2023, according to CDC data. New York City has seen an uptick in reported cases in that time period: 39 cases were identified between January and April 2023, compared with 151 cases between January and April 2024.

Pennsylvania saw just one case of monkeypox between January and April 2023, and recorded 33 cases in the same time period in 2024. Health officials in Philadelphia say cases in the city have been stable since last year.

Given that people often travel for Pride Month in June (Philadelphia’s Pride Parade is on Sunday), health workers here want to guard against the potential spread of the virus, Lynch said.

“Rates here are low, which is lovely,” Lynch said. “That said, it’s Pride season, not just here, but around the world. People travel, they go to parties, and they might be traveling to places where the mpox incidence is a little higher.”

Mazzoni is launching a campaign on dating sites frequented by men who have sex with men, and targeting men of color in particular: Rates of mpox vaccination among Black and Latino men who have sex with men are lower than among their white peers, Lynch said.

At the height of the mpox outbreak, Mazzoni was vaccinating as many people as they could, whether or not they were patients at the center, Lynch said. Then, the organization shifted mostly to vaccinating current patients. This summer, however, it will again be offering mpox vaccines to anyone who wants them.

“There’s no longer a national vaccine shortage like there was when this first came into play, so we’re allowing people to self-identify as someone who might be at risk,” he said.

Mazzoni wants those in high-risk groups to make sure they are fully vaccinated. The mpox vaccine, Jynneos, comes in two doses.

“Two years ago, during the initial outbreak, a lot of people who were in high-risk groups got the first shot. But a lot didn’t get the second,” Lynch said.

Ideally, the second Jynneos shot is delivered four weeks after the first, but it’s still effective when given two years later, Lynch said.

“Even if you had one two years ago, you don’t need to restart and get two more. For a lot of people, the idea of getting one shot is much more palatable than getting two shots,” he said.