At New York's Bushwig drag festival in 2022, more than 150 performers shared the programme with raves, an all-night market and an area where guests queued for mpox vaccination. The Guardian's on-site account records the queue as part of the festival itself.
LGBTQ+ communities were confronting both infection risk and stigma. By placing health care inside a trusted cultural gathering, the vaccination wait was not an interruption to the event. It became part of the community infrastructure through which the event protected its own audience.