The Southern Decadence festival in New Orleans attracted hundreds of thousands of people over this past Labor Day weekend. It's a celebratory event but the city also saw it as an opportunity to educate and vaccinate attendees about monkeypox.

At New Orleans' Southern Decadence festival, health officials educate and vaccinate for monkeypox

Shalina Chatlanie, Gulf States Newsroom 

Shea Creel (left), Jae Hinton (center), and Darryn Johnson (right) stop for a photo in New Orleans’ French Quarter, Sept. 6, 2022. The trio from Lake Charles, Louisiana were excited to come to Southern Decadence and were happy to see positive messaging around monkeypox vaccinations. (Shalina Chatlani/ Gulf States Newsroom.)

<a href="https://media.wbur.org/wp/2022/09/img_1770.jpg"><img class="size-full wp-image-799298" src="https://media.wbur.org/wp/2022/09/img_1770.jpg" alt="Shea Creel (left), Jae Hinton (center), and Darryn Johnson (right) stop for a photo in New Orleans’ French Quarter, Sept. 6, 2022. The trio from Lake Charles, Louisiana were excited to come to Southern Decadence and were happy to see positive messaging around monkeypox vaccinations. " width="1600" height="1200" /></a> Shea Creel (left), Jae Hinton (center), and Darryn Johnson (right) stop for a photo in New Orleans’ French Quarter, Sept. 6, 2022. The trio from Lake Charles, Louisiana were excited to come to Southern Decadence and were happy to see positive messaging around monkeypox vaccinations.<br />

Anthony Reed (left) and Christopher Bowles (right) show off Band-Aids they received for their monkeypox vaccine jabs at the Southern Decadence Health Hub in Louis Armstrong Park in New Orleans, Sept. 6, 2022. (Shalina Chatlani/Gulf States Newsroom)