Starting Friday, you no longer need an appointment to get a monkeypox vaccine in D.C.
DC Health and Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Thursday that the District’s three clinics will go to walkup-only services starting Friday, and people can get their first and second doses at any of them.
The clinic locations and hours:
- 1900 I St. NW; noon — 8 p.m. Sunday through Friday
- 7530 Georgia Ave. NW; noon — 8 p.m. Sunday through Friday
- 3640 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE; noon — 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday
The vaccines are available for people 18 and older who live, work or go to school in D.C. and meet the following criteria, DC Health said:
- All people, of any sexual orientation or gender, who have had multiple sexual partners in the past two weeks, including those currently considered highest risk: gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, transgender men, and transgender women; or
- Men who have sex with men who are non-monogamous (pre-exposure prophylaxis); or
- Sex workers (of any sexual orientation or gender); or
- Staff (of any sexual orientation or gender) at establishments where sexual activity occurs (e.g., bathhouses, saunas, sex clubs).
- People of any sexual orientation or gender who are living with HIV/AIDS or have been diagnosed with any sexually transmitted infection in the past three months.
If you got a first dose through a pre-registered appointment, DC Health said, you’ll be notified on how to get your second shot.
The second shot is best if given 24 to 32 days after your first, although after 32 days it can still be effective, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.
Monkeypox is transmitted through direct contact between people, prolonged face-to-face contact, or contact with the laundry of an infected person.
Initial symptoms of monkeypox often include fever, headache, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes, followed by a rash and lesions on the skin.
