St. John’s Reacts to Amendment of PREP Act Declaration by HHS

St. John’s Reacts to Amendment of PREP Act Declaration by HHS

IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, October 6 2022

Contact: Cabot Petoia, clpetoia@gmail.com, 828-899-9239

 

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Los Angeles —  Today, in response to the recent amendment of the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP) declaration by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), St. John’s Community Health released the following statement: 

“We applaud this amendment issued by HHS – allowing a broader array of staff members to administer MPOX vaccines, the amendment will benefit vaccine providers and increase access to the vaccine. This is a good first step,” said Jim Mangia, president and CEO of St. John’s Community Health. “Meanwhile, community health centers are still waiting for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to approve a vaccine administration rate so providers can be reimbursed for costs associated with administering the vaccine to hundreds of thousands of at-risk community members across the country. Further, we need grant funding from the federal government to support the efforts to contain this outbreak as well as expand education and outreach efforts around the virus. 

“Though new cases of MPOX have slowed, the virus is not over. Many people are not coming in for their second doses, and those vaccinated across the country are disproportionately white while Black and Latinx folks are left in the cold. We need health organizations – particularly smaller ones – to have guaranteed financial support to continue addressing MPOX.” 

To date, St. John’s has administered over 8,000 MPOX vaccines, focusing outreach and access efforts in heavily Latinx and Black neighborhoods and among trans communities. 2,800 of MPOX vaccines were administered at St. John’s Crenshaw Health Center alone (in the center of LA’s Black community), and 1,300 were administered through their Trans Health Program. 

They have also invested nearly $100,000 into advertising for MPOX vaccines, and are continuing to work with LGBTQ+, HIV, and racial justice organizations to uplift messaging that reaches populations impacted by MPOX.