Two months after the first monkeypox case was detected in the U.S., the case count has risen to more than 1,800.

The city of New York is being hit by a virus. The state has become an epicenter for the latest outbreak, with almost 500 cases, characterized by painful, itchy poxes and blisters that can last for up to a month.

The vaccine was ready to be used in New York City. The website crashed as a result.

Kevin Heard was trying to refresh the page for an hour and a half. He was able to make appointments for himself and his partner.

The website was down by the time Dean tried to make a booking. He thought about all the people in New York who don't have that.

I own a technology consulting business and have the privilege of sitting here for 90 minutes to get through everything. I don't think someone who works in a retail job in another area could do that. The people that got appointments won't berepresentative of the city of New York.

Vasan apologized for the technical and logistical problems. He told NPR that the city was still fighting COVID-19.

He said that he thought the public health system had been shorn of a workforce with high rates of mental health issues among health care workers. We need to support the infrastructure and the workers so that we can manage multiple crises at the same time.

Monkeypox is not as easy to spread as COVID-19. It doesn't usually lead to hospitalization.

Dr. McQuiston is the incident commander for the monkeypox response at the CDC. It isn't easy to spread. Direct contact is required. Most of the cases that we are aware of are related to intimate contact.

The CDC is trying to identify cases by increasing the number of tests. The US is expected to have 7 million vaccine doses by the middle of next year.

The CDC's vaccine allocation strategy has been updated. The greatest number of cases and communities of highest risk are the ones we see the most.

The majority of monkeypox cases are showing up in men who have sex with men, and that's a problem for the gay community. Right now, vaccine distribution is not ideal.

She acknowledged last week that the demand for vaccines is higher than the available supply.

Less than two years ago, a country was nervously waiting for the COVID vaccine. The disease has been on the radar for a long time.

The response to the threat has been criticized by some experts. Positive steps are being focused on by Walensky.

In public health, never to predict the future, she said. We have the tools that we need here. We know how to keep it from happening.

Mia Venkat and Ayen Bior were involved in the production of this episode. It was edited by a few people There is additional reporting from WNYC reporter. Lauren was responsible for adapting it for the internet.