Georgia opens new centralized monkeypox vaccine scheduling portal

A person receives the monkeypox vaccine during a mass vaccination clinic at the DeKalb County Board of Health North DeKalb Health Center in Chamblee on Friday, August 5, 2022. (Dean Hesse/Decaturish)

The Georgia Department of Public Health has launched a new, centralized online-scheduling tool and phone helpline to assist people in locating and making appointments for a monkeypox vaccine.

The one-stop site opens amid a shortage of monkeypox vaccine in Georgia and rising demand for the treatment as cases of the virus rise rapidly in the state and nationwide.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the U.S. currently has at least 11,890 total confirmed monkeypox cases. Georgia has at least 951 confirmed cases as of Monday, the fifth-highest number of cases in the nation behind New York, California, Florida and Texas.