TOLEDO, Ohio — The Ohio Department of Health said there are 75 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the state, one of which is in Lucas County.
ODH Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said most patients have recovered without the need for medicine in a press conference on Thursday.
He said 8% of cases in the U.S. have been hospitalized and no deaths have been reported.
But the limited supply of vaccines available for those eligible is a roadblock.
"But make no mistake, the Ohio Department of Health has been and will continue to push for vaccines for Ohio and to work with our local partners to get those vaccines out and into arms," Vanderhoff said.
Health officials are confident in the FDA's decision to administer the vaccine just under the top layer of the skin.
"Unlike COVID-19, (monkeypox) doesn't spread as easily between people," Vanderhoff said.
He said monkeypox spreads mostly through close, intimate contact with infected people. It is less likely, but still possible, for it to spread through touching contaminated objects and surfaces.
A Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report gathered by the CDC reported 99% of cases in the U.S. are among men, while 94% of those men reported having sexual contact with men. But the disease is not exclusive to gay men.
Dr. Joe Gastaldo, the medical director of infectious diseases at OhioHealth, said he's encouraged by the FDA's decision on how to administer the vaccine, because that will increase the vaccine amount by a factor of five.
"We need to make sure that the vaccines are targeted most to those at risk," Gastaldo said. "We really have to focus on equity for those vaccines and making those vaccines available to those most likely to encounter monkeypox. Right now, that is in the community of men who have sex with men."
As of Aug. 11, 4,253 doses of the monkeypox vaccine have been given in Ohio. It's a two-dose vaccine though, so just over 2,000 Ohioans have received it.
ODH officials said they received a shipment of 5,540 doses and hope to eventually have just over 13,000 in the near future.
Watch a recording of the full press conference below.