WHITE CENTER, Wash. — Hundreds of people lined up at a White Center bar Sunday as part of a free King County Monkeypox community vaccination event for people who are considered at high risk to contract the virus.
"As a business owner, if you have a way to give back to your community, who already gives so much to you it's very important for you to step up and do it," said Nathan Adams, the owner of Lumber Yard Bar located in White Center.
Adams partnered with Public Health Seattle & King County Health, who asked to use his business to host a Monkeypox community vaccination event.
"If I had a chance to do that during COVID, I would've done it because it was that important then, this is just as important," said Adams.
Hundreds of people lined up to get the vaccine during Sunday’s event, which delivered about 400 doses, for those considered high at risk.
"The majority of our cases of Monkeypox infection have been with men who have sex with men,” said Ben Meana with Public Health Seattle & King County. “So, these are folks in the gay, bisexual community, the queer community and also the trans community."
The county estimates about 40,000 people are considered at high risk. As of August 12th, there had been 224 cases within King County. County officials said they've received about 9,000 vaccines and plan to receive more soon, and eventually hope they'll have enough to give people their second dose.
"One does offer some level of protection, but if you're looking for that experimental value of 85%, that is for those two doses," said Meana.
In the meantime, the county plans on hosting other community vaccination events in the coming weeks.
"If they need to reach out to me about doing this again, I would be more than happy to find a way to do it,” said Adams. “It's all about being a part of the neighborhood you're in and being a part of that community."