Our health department update on monkeypox vaccination said this yesterday:
“Those who are eligible for vaccination include those who are: gay, bisexual, and other (cis or trans) men who have sex with men; are 18 or older; have had multiple or anonymous sex partners, sex at a social or sexual venue, or sex in exchange for money or goods.”
How does this parse?
"Those who are eligible for vaccination include those who are:
Are the last three conditions “and” or “or”? If “or”, it means that all men 18 or older are in the eligible group.
“Those who are eligible for vaccination include those who are: gay, bisexual, and other (cis or trans) men who have sex with men;
You split up the opening sentence. MSM sex is a requirement.
The next two requirements of age 18 and multiple sex partners seem to be “or” statements.
I get your point and perhaps whoever wrote that for a local health department could have worded it a bit better, but do you really think anyone would interpret it as “or”?
I read each “;” as an “and”.
Is there a separate vaccine against monkeypox or are you protected if you are vaccinated for smallpox?
There IS a separate monkeypox vaccine.
I think theoretically, smallpox vaccination would convey coverage, but I think the jury is out on people who got the smallpox vaccine as children vs. military people who got it more recently.
The vaccines against monkeypox and smallpox are the same. Both ACAM2000 and JYNNEOS are based on the vaccinia virus (JYNNEOS is a newer vaccine based on a virus modified to be replication-incompetent, unlike the more traditional ACAM2000).
However, it is not clear on whether immunity from vaccination in the 1970s or earlier (with vaccines that ACAM2000 is similar to) is still effective.
Thanks @ucbalumnus. Good to know.
Usually, when something like this is written, “and” or “or” is explicitly included (or something like “all of the following” or “at least one of the following”).
The other poor wording is that “gay, bisexual, and other (cis or trans) men” is excessively wordy and can be replaced by “men” to have the same meaning.
I split it based on the three phrases all beginning with verbs and making grammatical sense when attached to “Those who are eligible for vaccination include those who are … men who …”.
Going to be heading to San Francisco this weekend. SF has declared a MP emergency. I have not the tiniest bit of concern of contracting this virus. Lots of things concern me in SF, this is not one of them.
Not really. Trans men are still biologically women. The wording is meant to be inclusive.
I agree it could have been better written. But I’m trying to understand your point of parsing the statement. Do you believe it will prove confusing to the general population? I thought common sense would lead to most easily figuring out the intent of the message, but maybe I’m wrong.
Or is this just a fun dissection of the grammar used?
I hope this does not read as sarcastic or challenging. I’m genuinely curious. 
When I first read it, my first interpretation was “all men who are 18 or older, plus any younger men who have sex with men or multiple partners, etc.”. Is that not a reasonable interpretation that others may also get?
It is likely that transmen would use a definition of “men” that includes themselves, rather than the one that excludes them that anti-trans activists would use.
True. But the person in charge of vaccinations may have a differing opinion. Just covering bases.
Yup, as long as you’re not having sexual or intimate physical contact with someone who might be infected, you’ve got nothing to worry about.
“Dr. Linda Yancey, infectious disease specialist at the Memorial Hermann Health System in Houston, tells PEOPLE…
it is “absolutely a possibility” for monkeypox to be transmitted through items like money as the virus can survive for days in an environment.
“So, monkeypox is a sibling of smallpox. Remember that old story of the U.S. military giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native Americans? This could absolutely be transmitted in that fashion,” Yancey says. “And in fact, one of the cases in the U.S. was a lady who was exposed to bed linens. She cleans Airbnbs for a living. So any high touch items like money, doorknobs, shopping carts, have the potential for transmission. Now, we do not have to shelter in place. Once again, this is not COVID.”
Hand sanitizers and cleaners are highly effective at killing this virus, according to Yancey.“
Hand washing should never go out of fashion.
And sanitizing high traffic things before touching. Those all common sense things that we were doing before Covid.
YLE says that we should be considering ahead of time about whether and when to use the ACAM2000 vaccine (live replication-competent vaccinia virus, like smallpox vaccines used before eradication of smallpox) if the demand for the preferred JYNNEOS (live non-replicating virus) exceeds the supply.