As New York City gains control over the monkeypox outbreak, advocates are warning that vulnerable groups still remain at risk. Cases citywide began dropping late this summer: After a daily average of 74 reported infections in late July, the city is now recording fewer than 10 cases per day. Last week, New York City’s Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said this progress was promising, but it was too soon to declare victory just yet.
“We have turned a corner that I hope indicates that we now have the upper hand on this outbreak,” Vasan said. “While I’m very proud of where we are, I’d like to offer our humility and gratitude for the current situation. “The fact is that we’ve had real challenges.” Part of the doubt centers around the epidemic’s lingering health disparities.
While infections started out even among different racial and ethnic groups, cases are now smoldering most often in Black and Latino individuals. These two groups are also undervaccinated in New York City, even though people with shots are 14 times less likely to catch the virus in the current nationwide rollout. If this pattern holds in clinical studies of the monkeypox vaccine, it would translate to about 90% effectiveness.