Following its surge in cases in the summer of 2022 Monkeypox has been deemed a Public Health Emergency.

Monkeypox is a rare disease that has symptoms that can mirror smallpox and has several symptoms such as fever, rash, back ache and a rash that looks like pimples or blisters.

Following this information, Ashland University has sent out a poll to students to determine whether or not to make the vaccine available at the university.

700 students responded to the poll and of these 700 students, 25% of them answered “yes, the vaccine should be made available.”

“I don’t know if having the vaccine is needed, but it’s very convenient and that is what we really want for the students is for this to be accessible for them if they were to need this vaccine,” said Health Center RN Patricia Owens.

Owens also stated that the campus has yet to have a Monkeypox case and that the end goal with the vaccine decision is to have the Monkeypox, Flu and COVID-19 vaccines available for students to come in and get any of the vaccines they may need as quickly as possible.

“We want students to be able to come in and receive a vaccine and be able to be offered any of the others they may need so that way they can come in and get two of them at the same time and really help them out,” said Owens.

As of now, the demand for the Monkeypox vaccine is not large enough for it to be brought to campus.

This is a developing story.