The city of Newark teamed with a local nonprofit to host a monkeypox vaccine clinic.

The clinic administered about 200 first doses on Tuesday. Newark teamed with the North Jersey Community Research Initiative for the clinic.

The NJCRI is a health clinic that also offers COVID-19 vaccines.

“I figure if I have the opportunity to get protected against something like this… I’m going to take the first opportunity I can,” says Anthony Madrid.

Madrid is from Mattawan and drove to Newark for the clinic.

“This seems like a serious thing and it’s something we need to get ahead of,” Madrid says.

Tuesday’s clinic targeted people who have a known exposure to the virus, members of the LGBTQ+ community and those with compromised immune systems. Organizers say it is also a way to identify cases and stop the spread of the virus.

“We do have people come in and they are concerned about, ‘Is this a rash on me? Is it monkeypox?’ We can help confirm or deny that,” says Brian McGovern, NJCRI CEO.

Head nurse Anny Pastor developed this free walk-up system during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pastor says the pandemic helped to prepare the team to better tackle monkeypox.

“If the vaccines are there and there is a public health threat, the quicker we respond, the more chances we have to stop it from becoming an epidemic or pandemic,” Pastor says.

THE NJCRI has already given out more than 2,000 monkey pox vaccines. The shots come from the state - which got them from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Like COVID-19, the monkeypox vaccine requires two doses. Those who got their monkeypox shot about a month ago will get their second dose on Wednesday.

Anyone who gets a first dose of the vaccine is guaranteed a second.