- The World Health Organization declared mpox an emergency for the second time in two years.
- Mpox was formerly known as monkeypox and it is related to small pox.
- This column ran in its original form in August 2022. The Tennessean presents this from the archives because of the interest in the new mpox outbreak.
Editor's note: This column originally published on Aug. 31, 2022 in Tennessean. Given the renewed interest in mpox (formerly known monkeypox) because of the recent breakout, we offer an updated version of this essay from the archives.
I didn’t know anyone personally who suffered with mpox until 2022.
My friend, Joel Marino, a New York City-based journalist at the Pulitzer Prize winning Insidershared an essay about his ordealthis summer of contractingCOVID and then mpox.
He vividly described to a reporter the pain but also the shame of going through mpoxgiven hom*ophobic reactions by some and silence by others for a virus that can afflict anyone.But ithas overwhelminglyaffected the LGBTQ community, particularly men who have sex with men, or MSM.
We texted after I read the article, and he was healing and no longer infectious. I told him I was proud of him for sharing his story and also his advice for Americansto get the vaccine.
The U.S. government declaredmpox a public health emergencyon Aug. 4, 2022.
TheTennessee Department of Healthencouraged at-risk populations especially, including MSM as well as elderly, pregnant and immunocompromised people to get vaccinated.
Hubris and COVID fatigue hampered public health efforts
The first news I heard of mpox becoming a problem was in May 2022.
While the virus was minimized,podcast host and columnistDan Savage, who is generally whimsical, was sounding the alarm about the disproportionate impact on MSM.
At my annual physical a few weeks later, I asked my doctor about it, but he didn’t have too much more information than I already did.
At the time, the vaccine was very hard to get in places like New York and San Francisco, and I had no idea when Tennessee would be offering it. Cases were considerably lower here.
But much like COVID in 2020 and the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s, we felt a false sense of security that we could not possibly come down with what was seen as acoastal state disease.
But it was very much across the country.
TheCenters for Disease Control and Preventionreported 17,432 cases as of Aug. 26, 2022, in the U.S. The figure was 156 in Tennessee at that time. A week later, those figures rose to 18,989 nationwide and 181 statewide.
The initial government response was slow, full of errors and unsuccessful. Theoutbreak slowed down, but it did not cease.
Americans’ collective hubris, our COVID fatigue and unwillingness to address disease outbreaks more proactively hurt us.
The mpox vaccine is quick and painless
The bookI was reading that summer was“Hot Spot” by Dr. Alex Jahangirwho led the coronavirus response for Nashville.
Meanwhile, COVID is still very much here even in 2024.
In Tennessee, there weremore than 4,000 reported casesfrom Aug. 14 through Aug. 20, 2022, and 14 people died from the virus during that time for a total of 27,318 deaths since 2020. (As of Aug. 24, 2024, 30,926 people have died due to COVID).
We appear to be repeating similar mistakes Jahangirpointed outwith the mpox outbreak.
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But if you had the chance to take proactive measures to protect your health and your exposure to a disease, would you do it?
That mpox primarily plagued a marginalized community and its associationwith sexual activity wrongly made the disease for some a moral issue instead ofa public health issue.
As for me, I took Joel’s advice and got my first of two doses of JYNNEOS, the mpox vaccine, on Aug. 26, 2022,at the Williamson County Health Department. Check with yourlocal health department(https://www.tn.gov/health/health-program-areas/localdepartments.html)for vaccine availability. I took my second dose several weeks later.
No appointment was needed and it was about 35 minutes from the time I arrived to the time I left — 15 of those minutes was the wait time to ensure there was no adverse reaction to the vaccine.
It wasn’t painful and the only expected reaction was a small welt in the spot where the shot went into my forearm.
That’s a better outcomethan the horrible pain and isolation my friend experienced.
We would all do well to take his experience seriously.
David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee. He isan editorial board member of The Tennessean. He hosts theTennessee Voices videocastand curates theTennessee VoicesandLatino Tennessee Voicesnewsletters. Call him at (615) 259-8063, email him atdplazas@tennessean.comor find him on X at@davidplazas.
