North Shore Monkeypox Vaccine Clinic Set Up As Cases Climb

SALEM, MA — Salem will host a free monkeypox vaccination clinic for North Shore residents and visitors on Sept. 19 at the Mayor Jean Levesque Community Life Center on Bridge Street as cases climb across the state.

The state Department of Public Health on Thursday confirmed 30 new cases in the state between Sept. 1 and Sept 7. There have been 347 cases diagnosed since the first case was confirmed on May 18.

Eligibility restrictions for the Salem clinic apply and can be found here, along with a link to schedule an appointment.

The Salem Board of Health is hosting the clinic in partnership with Health Innovations.

The Board of Health recently issued a monkeypox advisor for high-risk individuals and on Thursday will host a roundtable talk from 6 to 7:30 p.m. about the risks and realities of the disease at the Witch City Mall in East India Square in Salem.

The Board of Health statement said: "The majority of reported MPV cases occur among people assigned male at birth and most frequently among those males who identify as gay, bisexual, and/or men who have sex with men. However, any person, regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation can acquire and spread monkeypox.

"Although the virus does not spread easily between people, most infections last anywhere from two to four weeks and can be very burdensome to an infected person."

The North Shore Alliance for GLBTQ+ Youth and North Shore Public Health Collaborative will host the roundtable to discuss the current state of monkeypox, the epidemiology as understood today and answer questions about the rare outbreak.

North Shore residents can also join the roundtable virtually here.

Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)