PrEP in NYC and Free STI Testing: A Practical Sexual Health Guide

Possible HIV exposure? Emergency PEP in NYC

The Health Department says PEP is for when you have had anal or vaginal sex, or shared injection equipment, in the past 72 hours with someone who may have HIV. It is not usually recommended after lower-risk contact such as oral sex, and you do not need it if you were on PrEP, used condoms, or your partner is on treatment and undetectable. If you are unsure, call the hotline and let a clinician decide with you.

Cost should not stop you. Many insurance plans, including Medicaid, cover PEP, and the city's hotline can connect people to a starter pack and a provider regardless of insurance status. Callen-Lorde offers walk-in PEP to non-patients too, though it warns the visit can take two to three hours. City clinics prioritize PEP patients when they are busy.

Free and low-cost STI testing: NYC Sexual Health Clinics

The Health Department runs eight clinic sites in four boroughs. They are the backbone of free STI testing in NYC.

Walk-in services include evaluation and testing for chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and mpox, STI treatment, HIV testing, PEP, starting HIV treatment, doxy-PEP, emergency contraception and other birth control. The clinics also offer telemedicine for things like managing a positive result or a PrEP consultation. The Sexual Health Clinic Hotline is 347-396-7959, Monday to Friday, 9 am to 3:30 pm.

Two caveats. The Crown Heights and Riverside (Upper West Side) clinics are closed until further notice, and there is no city Sexual Health Clinic on Staten Island; the Pride Center of Staten Island lists free health services, and the NYC Health Map shows other testing sites. And the clinics shut for staff days as well as public holidays: remaining 2026 closures listed are October 12, 14 and 30, November 3, 11, 19 and 26, and December 17 and 25. The full schedule is on the official clinics page.

PrEP in NYC: options, where to start and how to pay

PrEP is medicine that people without HIV take to prevent it. The Health Department's line: taken as prescribed, it reduces the risk of getting HIV through sex by over 99 percent.

1. Start with a consult

   Ask your own provider, or use a city Sexual Health Clinic: PrEP initiation is available on a walk-in basis, but appointments are preferred and can be booked online. Your provider will test you for HIV first. NYC Sexual Health Clinics

2. Or go to a community clinic

   Callen-Lorde, NYC Health + Hospitals Pride Health Centers, Apicha, Housing Works and Community Healthcare Network all prescribe PrEP. GMHC has a short questionnaire that routes you to the quickest way to get it, whatever your insurance. Callen-Lorde PrEP options

3. Sort out payment

   In New York State, some PrEP options are covered by Medicaid and most insurance plans with no co-pays for the medicine, lab work or visits. Uninsured or undocumented? Ask the clinic about patient assistance programs for the medication, and about the state's PrEP Assistance Program (PrEP-AP), which reimburses clinics for the visits and lab tests. NYS PrEP-AP

4. Keep the routine

   PrEP only prevents HIV. Keep up regular STI testing, ask about vaccines and doxy-PEP, and remember that if you miss doses, PEP within 72 hours is still an option. NYC Health: PrEP

Trans and nonbinary readers: both NYC Health and Callen-Lorde state that PrEP does not interfere with gender-affirming hormones, and hormones do not make PrEP less effective. More on affirming providers at Trans NYC.

Doxy-PEP in NYC

Doxy-PEP is the antibiotic doxycycline taken after sex to lower the chance of bacterial STIs. NYC Health describes it as a pill that helps prevent chlamydia, syphilis and gonorrhea, and it is now available by walk-in at every city Sexual Health Clinic. Callen-Lorde also has a doxy-PEP service through its sexual health clinic.

Whether it suits you, and exactly how to take it, is a conversation for a clinician; the Health Department publishes plain-language guides in more than a dozen languages on its clinics page. It does not replace regular testing, and it does nothing against HIV, mpox or viral infections.

Mpox and other vaccines NYC Health recommends

Who should ask about it, in the department's words: people who have sex with men and identify as male, trans, nonbinary, genderqueer or gender non-conforming; anyone who considers themselves at risk through sex or intimate contact; and travelers to countries where clade I is spreading who expect a new partner on the trip. After a known exposure, get vaccinated as soon as possible and within 14 days. If you have already had mpox, you do not need the vaccine.

Every city Sexual Health Clinic gives mpox shots as a stand-alone walk-in service, Monday to Friday, 8:30 am to 3:30 pm, regardless of insurance or immigration status. While you are there for other care, the clinics also offer HPV, hepatitis A, hepatitis B and meningitis vaccines; Callen-Lorde lists the same set. New rash or sores? Skip the party, see a provider and mention any recent travel.

HIV testing, treatment and U=U

NYC Health recommends an HIV test at least once a year if you are sexually active, and every three to six months if you have multiple partners or a partner living with HIV. Testing is free or low cost at city clinics, and you can find more sites by calling 311 or texting TESTNYC to 55676. Prefer to test at home? Free HIV self-test kits are available through the city's Community Home Test Giveaway partners, listed on the NYC Health Map.

Timing matters, because tests cannot see a brand-new infection. According to the department, a lab antigen-antibody blood test can confirm a negative 45 days or more after your last possible exposure; rapid finger-stick and oral swab tests need 90 days. If you have flu-like symptoms after a possible exposure, tell the provider you are worried about HIV specifically.

If you test positive, the message from every clinic in this guide is the same: start treatment right away. HIV care and treatment are available to all New Yorkers with HIV regardless of ability to pay or immigration status. Treatment today can be one pill a day, or long-acting injections. And it works for your partners too: people who take HIV treatment and keep an undetectable viral load cannot pass HIV to others through sex. That is U=U, undetectable equals untransmittable, and it rests on large studies in which no partner with undetectable HIV transmitted the virus.

Under 25? Callen-Lorde's HOTT program sees ages 13 to 24 free or at low cost, and The Door's health center is free for ages 12 to 24; both are on Essentials. The New York State HIV/AIDS Information Hotline is 800-541-2437.

Free condoms in NYC

The NYC Condom Availability Program gives away millions of free condoms, internal condoms and lube every year at more than 1,000 locations: bars, barbershops, clinics, community organizations. You will find a bowl of them by the door at plenty of the venues in our Nightlife and Bars & Lounges guides. To find a pick-up spot near you, search the NYC Health Map or call 311; details are on the NYC Health condoms page.

Condoms remain highly effective against HIV and other STIs, and against mpox they help but do not cover every exposure, since the rash can appear elsewhere on the body.

No insurance? Your low-cost options

Longer term, it is worth getting covered. NYC Health + Hospitals, Callen-Lorde, GMHC, Apicha and The Center all have staff who will sit down with you and work out insurance or NYC Care. For crisis lines, legal help and the rest of the safety net, see Essentials.