Introducing Our New Podcast!

Corey Prachniak-Rincón, 6/21/2023

If you are a long-time fan of LGBTQ HealthLink, you'll know we have had a blog and podcast focused on LGBTQ health for many years. We are trilled to share with you that our podcast has been rebranded, revamped, and relaunched as the HealthLink PrideCast! If you subscribed to the previous version, you will now see the update... If you are not yet a subscriber, you can find us here or wherever you listen to podcasts.

For our first episode, we were honored to sit down with Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who serves as Deputy Coordinator of the White House National Mpox Response. Dr. Daskalakis provided an update on the mpox epidemic, as well as broader considerations for how LGBTQ people can take their health into their own hands throughout Pride season and beyond. 

“When you look at the story of mpox, we’ve had a really significant deceleration – so, decrease – of cases over the last several months. We’ve had cases that happen – one or two on average per day in the United States – but that compares to 400 cases on the highest day on average. So we’ve definitely made a lot of progress.”  To explain this progress, Dr. Daskalakis credited the work done on the ground, at the community level, to make information and vaccines available to LGBTQ folks and others who need them.

However, Dr. Dakalakis also cautioned that it is too soon to consider mpox to be over. “The forecasts say that we have to vaccinate more people, and that if we don’t, what could happen is that we have outbreaks and in some circumstances outbreaks that really cut back to a level similar to what we had in spring/summer 2022.” 

There is a lot that LGBTQ people can do, beyond getting vaccinated, to prevent mpox - as well as COVID-19, HIV and sexually transmitted infections, overdose, and more - as summer officially begins. To learn more about protecting your health (or that of the people you serve) this summer, you can go to cdc.gov/lgbthealth/summer. 

And don't forget to subscribe and listen to the all-new HealthLink PrideCast here!