Demand for the monkeypox vaccine in Texas is outstripping supply as the nondeadly disease takes hold

For weeks, Austin tech worker Taylor Scot Harrell desperately tried to get the monkeypox vaccine ahead of his vacation so that he wouldn’t contract a painful and contagious skin rash on an upcoming trip to Europe.

Anyone can get the virus, which has no known long-term chronic effects and rarely leads to hospitalization. But it is painful and debilitating — and as a gay man, Harrell is part of what is currently a high-risk group for exposure.