Suffolk County will hold a series of monkeypox vaccine clinics at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital's Edie Windsor Healthcare Center, 182 West Montauk Highway (Building B, Suite D), in Hampton Bays, over the next few weeks, starting on Saturday.
Until the county receives additional supplies of the free monkeypox vaccine, a total of 615 people can be accommodated at the Windsor Center clinics. Appointments are a must, and can be made using this link beginning Saturday at 9 a.m. Clinic dates are July 25, 27, and 29, and Aug. 1 and 3.
According to the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, people are eligible for the vaccine if they have had a recent exposure to the virus, defined as within the last 14 days. The county also says those at high risk include "members of the gay, bisexual, transgender, and gender non-conforming community and other communities of men who have sex with men and who have engaged in intimate or skin-to-skin contact with others in the past 14 days areas where monkeypox is spreading," and those who use online apps or frequent bars and social events to meet intimate partners.
In a statement to the media on Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said that New York State "continues to face a disproportionate number of monkeypox cases."
"While the national supply of vaccines remains limited, we will continue our efforts to confront this outbreak with the urgency needed to ensure that New York receives its fair share of vaccines and protect our most vulnerable communities," she said.