Men who have sex with men: Last News

current vaccination criteria.The change in eligibility criteria comes as the number of confirmed monkeypox cases continues to tick up across the country, surpassing 11,000 cases in the United States.There are currently 321 cases of monkeypox in the District, which represents the highest number of cases per capita of any state-level jurisdiction in the country.Under the new eligibility criteria, vaccines are not solely limited to District residents, but will now be available to individuals, aged 18 or over, who work in the District, students enrolled at District universities and colleges, and people affiliated with DC Health Programs who receive health care services in the District.Those recommended for vaccination include all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender, who have had multiple sexual partners in the past two week, including communities considered at high risk of contracting the monkeypox virus.Those at-risk communities include gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, transgender men and women, commercial sex workers, and staff at establishments where sexual activity occurs.The expansion of eligibility is interesting, in that nearby jurisdictions like Maryland and Virginia only offer vaccines to residents of those states, despite having larger populations and fewer confirmed cases of monkeypox infection.Additionally, the expansion of vaccinations to all people, regardless of sexual orientation, represents a change from the most at-risk populations, such as men who have sex with men, who comprise more than 98% of all confirmed cases in the current outbreak.Newly eligible individuals will be able to pre-register under the new criteria through the District’s registration portal

if they had engaged in sex in the past three months. That change — necessitated by the need for plasma, especially from individuals who had been infected with but overcame COVID-19, as a treatment for infected individuals — replaced a longer 12-month deferral period for men who have sex with men, which was imposed in 2015, supplanting a lifetime ban on gay or bisexual male donors.In place of a categorical deferral, the FDA will instead institute a risk-based questionnaire asking the same questions of all donors, regardless of sexual orientation, biological sex, or gender identity.

imposed in 1992. In 2013, the lifetime ban was reduced to a five-year deferral period for MSM, then to a 1-year deferral period in 2016 and to a three-month deferral period in 2019, reports United Press International.Going forward, Canadian Blood Service, a nonprofit charitable organization that provides blood and blood products to Canadian health care systems, will introduce give all donors, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, a questionnaire to fill out to determine whether they have engaged in sexual behaviors that place them at higher risk of blood-borne diseases, which determine whether they should be deferred from donating for an additional amount of time.In a statement authorizing the country’s chief two blood operators — Canadian Blood Services and Héma-Québec — to change the eligibility criteria for donors, Health Canada called the development “a significant milestone toward a more inclusive blood donation system nationwide, and builds on progress in scientific evidence made in recent years.”Starting on Sept.