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Tri-County Health gives monkeypox vaccine at Aurora Pride

The department says it just received the vaccine — and knew it wanted to provide doses at the event for anyone at risk who wanted a shot.

AURORA, Colo. — When Carlos Thomas saw the Tri-County Health Department (TCHD) tent outside the gates of Aurora Pride, he thought "Fantastic!"

The 57-year-old spent the past month trying to find a vaccine provider that had monkeypox shots still available -- the doses haven't been easy to track down. 

"I did call a couple of numbers and see about getting on a list, but I hadn’t heard back from them," he said. "I thought well if I'm here and I can do it, I'll do it!"

Anyone can get monkeypox — it's spread through close contact. Right now, doctors are finding most cases in men who have sex with men. For now, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has limited vaccine eligibility to that population — or to people who had close contact with a positive case. 

Tri-County Health came to Pride hoping to reach anyone at-risk who wanted a shot, said TCHD Immunization Nurse Manager Caitlin Silverstein. "We knew this event was coming up so we wanted to make sure we were here and providing vaccine," she said.

But the department still doesn't have enough: the monkeypox vaccine is a two-dose vaccine, but TCHD is only giving first doses for now to protect as many people as possible. 

"Supply is increasing, but not as fast as demand is," Silverstein said. "We got here and there was already a huge line waiting for us." 

It only took half an hour for Thomas to get to the front of the line -- worth the wait, he said, to vaccinate against the virus. "Nobody wants to have that kind of pain," he said. "It’s important for everybody to understand just how important it is to get vaccinated if you’re in a group where it’s a little bit more prevalent to get it."

Silverstein said TCHD vaccinated about 250 people at Pride. The department will plan future vaccine events. So far, the state reports reports 80 confirmed cases of monkeypox in Colorado. 

RELATED: What it's like to get the monkeypox vaccine in Colorado

RELATED: US declares public health emergency over monkeypox outbreak

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