After 5 p.m. on Friday, Friend's Tavern, a gay bar in Queens, served up more than cocktails — there were flyers passed around the bar with information about monkeypox, the virus that is being transmitted largely among men who have sex with men.

"Customers do come here and they think we have all the answers and we try to have as many answers as we can and the biggest talk lately has been monkeypox," Friend's Tavern owner Eddie Valentin said. "It’s been — do I have any information? Can I tell them where to get the vaccine?"

"We do not want this to become any bigger than it already has and we’re already dealing with COVID-19," Valentin added. "We don’t need to deal with two pandemics at the same time."

What You Need To Know

  • As of Friday, the city had 839 reported cases of monkeypox

  • City Council members distributed information about monkeypox and vaccines at bars and nightclubs on Friday night

  • City Health Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan said that he hopes there are no restrictions on the new batch of vaccine doses New York is slated to receive so shots can go into as many arms as possible

On Friday, Valentin welcomed the city’s health commissioner, Dr. Ashwin Vasan, and City Council members from Queens to his bar to help get the word out about resources and vaccinations.

"These are community hubs for the gay community, for gay men, in particular," Vasan said. "These are community hubs where they feel safe, they feel dignified, they can go and they become places where they can get information."

It’s an effort from city officials to directly engage with gay men, after receiving criticism early in the outbreak.

"I think there was some inconsistent messaging," City Councilwoman Lynn Schulman of Queens said. "It wasn’t clear, it wasn't concise — it is now. Also, there was a lack of appointments because there was a lack of vaccines, but that wasn’t made clear to people. That’s all been resolved."

This on-the-ground effort comes at a time when cases are rising — there are 839 presumed cases of monkeypox in the city as of Friday.

"It seems to be getting better because last week I wasn’t able to get on the website at all or find any appointments," bar patron Andrew Hsia said. "But we just found some just now. But there seems to be more availability."

Hsia added that he feels relieved.

"I know I have a slot and I can get it," Hsia said. "It’s not a big worry."

Meanwhile, Vasan said that he hopes there are no restrictions on the new batch of vaccine doses New York is slated to receive so the shots can go into as many arms as possible.