Mpox Outbreak Risks Flare Up Without Completion of Vaccinations

Cases of mpox have declined in New York City since last summer, but the virus still circulates at low levels.
Health officials have warned of a risk of new outbreaks, primarily among men who have sex with men.
A cluster of cases spreading among vaccinated and unvaccinated people in Chicago has raised concern that the protection provided by vaccination may be waning.
New York City has had one of the nation’s highest vaccination rates among people at greatest risk for getting the disease, but about half of those who have been vaccinated received only one dose of the two-dose vaccine, leaving many vulnerable to infection.
Public health authorities and nonprofit groups have begun to publicly remind sexually active men who have sex with men to get their second vaccine dose if they have not done so.