Sexual Health Clinic

If an HIV negative person is exposed to HIV, oral PrEP helps to stop the virus from taking hold and replicating in your body. The recommended regimen helps your body create an active defense against HIV infection. This is why it is important to take it as prescribed.

PrEP is not effective immediately. Depending on what body parts you use during sex, oral PrEP can take between 7 and 21 days to be completely effective. Afterword, you must continue to take PrEP every day for it to be effective.

PrEP on-demand may be right for you if you:

• Sometimes are not sexually active
• Don’t always use condoms
• Can’t afford daily PrEP
• Do not want to take a pill everyday

What you need to know about PrEP on-demand:

• It has only been studied in cisgender men who have sex with men
• Descovy has not been studied for on-demand use and is not recommended
• If you forget to take PrEP, emergency PEP can prevent HIV if taken within 72 hours of a possible exposure
• Continue to get an HIV test every 3 months
• Condoms provide additional protection against other sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

For questions, call our PrEP hotline (212) 271-7200.

PrEP is safe and generally well-tolerated. Routine HIV tests, STI tests, and labs will need to be taken every 3 months to continue PrEP and help ensure you are healthy.

Some people who take PrEP have reported mild side effects such as nausea and headache, but these side effects usually resolve after the first few weeks. If you are taking PrEP, tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effect that bothers you or that doesn’t go away.

Schedule your appointment here or call our main number at (212) 271-7200.

While most insurances cover PrEP, there are different financial support programs available for uninsured, underinsured, and insured patients.

Patients may qualify for the following programs:

Gilead MAP which covers cost of medication (click here for details) and PrEP AP which covers lab and visit cost (click here for details).

• Ready, Set, PrEP makes PrEP medication available at no cost to those who qualify.
• Co-pay assistance programs can help lower the costs of PrEP medications. Income is not a factor in eligibility.
• Some states have PrEP assistance programs. After you see a medical provider, a case manager can speak with you in more detail about these programs and how to apply. Some cover medication, some cover clinical visits and lab costs, and some cover both.

Apart from these programs, we have a robust insurance navigation team that is also available to assist patients apply for public insurance plans. Our goal at Callen-Lorde is to make HIV prevention accessible and affordable.

• Apretude (cabotegravir) is an intramuscular injection given by a provider in our clinics every two months after the initial first two monthly doses.
• Yeztugo (lenacapavir), a six-month injectable medication for PrEP, just received FDA earlier this year. We are excited about this coming tool, though it is not yet available for our patients. We will keep patients updated on when they will be able to receive Yeztugo at our clinics.

LAIs are a great option for individuals for whom taking a daily pill is a challenge. Although LAIs patient appointments are required every 2 or 6 months, people have reported an improved experience due to the lack of daily pills, and clinical trials show that long-acting injectables have a higher rate of HIV prevention when patients adhere to the recommended schedule.

New patients can now access LAIs through making an appointment. Ask any provider or front desk staff person at any of our locations to set up your intake session.

In certain instances your provider may be able to get special coverage and co-pays by working with patient assistance plans.

As a reminder, if you can’t get coverage for an injectable medication, oral medications are still available at Callen-Lorde and are highly effective at preventing HIV.

If you believe you may have been exposed to HIV, you should consider taking PEP to prevent infection.

Here are some cases when you may want PEP:

• A condom breaks during sex
• You forget to use a condom during sex
• A partner finds out/discloses they are HIV positive after you have had unprotected sex
• You share a needle or syringe with someone to inject drugs or hormones
• You get “stuck” by a needle at your job that was used on someone else
• You experience sexual assault

If you want to talk to someone about whether you need PEP, call us at (212) 271-7200

You do not have to be a patient at Callen-Lorde to get PEP. Find our walk-in PEP service hours here. Your visit must be within 72 hours of the potential exposure. It can take up to 2-3 hours to get PEP at Callen-Lorde.

While most insurances cover PEP, there are different support programs available for uninsured, underinsured, and insured patients. For insured, and underinsured patients, there are a range of support co-pay cards (Gilead, Merck, VIIV Connect, Patient Advocate Foundation). Uninsured patients may qualify for Gilead’s MAP which covers cost of medication (click here for details). NYC operates a hotline, which assist patients regardless of insurance status have access to a PEP starter pack and help you link to a provider to receive the rest of your treatment. The hotline is 844-3-PEPNYC (click here for details).

It’s important to start PEP as soon as possible after exposure. You can get PEP at your local emergency room if Callen-Lorde is closed. You can also go to this website and enter your zip code to find all the clinics/hospitals near you that provide PEP.

PEP often doesn’t cause any side effects in people who take it. The most common side effects are indigestion, nausea, gas, or bloating, but they usually go away within a couple of days. If are worried about side effects, please call us at (212) 271-7200.

DoxyPEP is like a morning after pill for STIs, best taken within 24 hours of having unprotected sex. According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the regimen can reduce your chance of getting certain infections including syphilis and chlamydia by about two-thirds and can possibly create a reduction in gonorrhea infections. Here’s how to take it.

1. Take two 100-milligram pills of doxycycline within 24 hours or no later than 72 hours after condomless sex.
2. You can use the medication every day while having condomless sex, but do not take more than 200 milligrams, or one dose, every 24 hours.
3. Drink plenty of water with the medicine. Taking it with food might help prevent an upset stomach.
4. Use sunscreen or cover exposed skin while outdoors, as some patients become more sensitive to the sun.
5. Avoid taking antacids, multivitamins or supplements that contain calcium, magnesium or iron two hours before or after taking doxycycline, as they may interrupt your body’s ability to absorb the antibiotic.

According to the health department, DoxyPEP is a new way of fighting STIs and there are still questions about its use. Physicians are still unclear on whether taking the antibiotic for STI prevention would affect the “good” bacteria in patients’ intestines or on the skin, or if the bacteria that cause STIs will become resistant due to this method – and therefore make them harder to treat.

The DOHMH recommends that sexually active New Yorkers continue to get tested for STIs every three months and whenever they have symptoms. DoxyPEP cannot prevent HIV, mpox, HPV or other viral infections and doses should not be shared with others.