Monkeypox vaccines to be offered at Folsom, Castro fairs

FILE – A vial containing the monkeypox vaccine and a syringe is set on the table at a vaccination clinic run by the Mecklenburg County Public Health Department in Charlotte, N.C., Saturday, Aug. 20, 2022. In the wake of a study released on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, U.S. officials are considering broadening recommendations for who gets vaccinated against monkeypox, possibly to include many men being treated for HIV or those who recently had other sexually transmitted infections. (AP Photo/Nell Redmond, File)

by: John Ferrannini

Posted: Sep 23, 2022 / 10:31 AM PDT

Updated: Sep 23, 2022 / 10:31 AM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – The San Francisco Department of Public Health will be offering first and second doses of the monkeypox vaccine at the Folsom and Castro street fairs, which are this weekend and next weekend respectively, according to a tweet from the department.

The doses that will be offered will be from among the 10,000 doses sent to the city by the Biden administration for large gatherings. As KRON4 previously reported, Oakland Pride and Oakland Pridefest were given doses for just this reason.

Vaccine doses will be provided at the Folsom Street Fair from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. The fair will be Sunday in the city’s South of Market neighborhood. Founded in 1984, it is a celebration of both gay and heterosexual leather and BDSM subcultures.

The Castro Street Fair will be Oct. 2 in the city’s Castro neighborhood. That event was founded in 1974 by the late Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in California, who wanted to bring business to the then-burgeoning LGBTQ mecca.

The health department also wanted to announce it will be providing vaccine doses at the bar El Rio, at 3158 Mission Street, from 4-8 p.m. Sept. 30 and Oct. 7 and from 3-7 p.m. Oct. 14.