New York City circuit party promoter Ric Sena, the creator of the long-running Alegria events, announced online that this Sunday’s “Sunrise” party, scheduled to run from noon until 10PM, has been cancelled due to “growing concerns about the monkeypox outbreak.” This may be the first event – straight or gay – to be cancelled in the U.S. due to monkeypox.
The announcement, posted on the company’s website, reads: “Due to the growing concerns around the Monkeypox outbreak in NYC we feel the responsible action is to cancel our Sunday, July 17th event. We take your health, security and peace of mind very seriously and know you will understand this decision to help protect our community.”
Adding that all ticket orders will be automatically refunded, the message from Ric Sena closed saying, “We wish for everyone to take appropriate precautions and stay safe until we can meet again safely on the dance floor.”
New York City has wrestled with challenges in addressing the monkeypox threat. Not only have there been limited doses of vaccine, but high demand for the jabs has caused the NYC Health Department’s scheduling website to be overwhelmed with traffic to the point of crashing.
According to Axios, the NYC Health Department said in a statement, “This is just further proof that demand is very high, and we will continue working to make vaccine available.”
“We apologize for the frustration caused and are working to build stable appointment infrastructure as we roll out more appointments as vaccine supply increases in the coming weeks,” the statement continued.
The website delivered error messages to many people because of "overwhelming traffic" as soon as it opened up to the public, the NYC Health Department said.
There are now no appointments available and "vaccine supply remains low." https://t.co/jEQB9T6hQK
— Axios (@axios) July 14, 2022
ABC News reports that about 7,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine have been administered in New York City with 14,500 more doses expected this week.
As of Wednesday, 336 people in New York City have tested positive for the virus. Infections now exceed 1,000 across the U.S. While limited supplies of the vaccine haven’t kept up with demand, the federal government announced today it has purchased more than 1.1 million completed doses of the vaccine produced by Bavarian Nordic in Denmark.
Anyone can get or spread monkeypox, but the NYC Health Department notes that the virus is currently being spread primarily among men who have sex with men. Monkeypox typically presents itself through a rash or sores. It is similar to, but not as severe, as smallpox and primarily seen in Western and Central Africa.
In related news, the Twitter user @TheKingofReads shared a thread purporting vaccine doses meant for Black and brown folks in Harlem had been made available to “white gays in NYC.” Instinct has not confirmed the validity of these allegations.
I'm about to share a thread about how white gays in NYC had access to the vaccine for monkeypox that were intended for Black and brown folks in Harlem.
The next follow tweets are not my words but from someone who chosen to be anonymous.
— TheKingofReads (@TheKingofReads) July 12, 2022
The city has failed to build an equitable vaccination plan accessible to Black LGBTQ.
The line to be vaccinated stretched around the block. Largely due to appointments being released randomly during the day when many Black people are at work…
— TheKingofReads (@TheKingofReads) July 12, 2022
Black LGBTQ that live in Harlem are being turned away from the vaccine site due to not having appointments while white gays from downtown arrive in Ubers to be vaccinated.
— TheKingofReads (@TheKingofReads) July 12, 2022
