The US government is stepping up efforts to contain the monkeypox outbreak by sending hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses to states in the coming months, which will improve access to those most at risk and boost supplies to areas with high numbers of cases.
The plan, announced Tuesday, includes rapidly expanding access to Bavarian Nordic’s currently limited Genius vaccine to prevent the spread of monkeypox in areas with the largest outbreaks.
Local and state health departments can also order supplies of another vaccine developed by Emerging Biosolutions, which is much more affordable but has more side effects and cannot be used by everyone, including the immunocompromised.
The Biden administration will release 296,000 doses of Genius vaccine from the national stockpile to states and territories in the coming weeks, officials said, with 56,000 doses distributed immediately and another 1.6 million doses available in the coming months.
There are 306 reported cases of monkeypox, a viral infection associated with smallpox, in the United States. While the virus is endemic in parts of Africa, the current outbreak has reached countries where the virus does not normally spread, raising concerns that it could become more common.
Demand for the vaccine is on the rise: Last week, a clinic in New York began offering the vaccine, and the available doses quickly ran out.
Health officials have previously focused on administering the vaccine to people who have had direct contact with confirmed cases of monkeypox. The new strategy will expand that range to include suspected contacts with infected people, said Jennifer McKeston, an official with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Government officials said the goal of the initial phase of the strategy is to slow the spread of the disease.
