The US is to make nearly 300,000 vaccine doses available to stem the spread of human monkeypox virus (hMPXV), NPR reports.
The Post notes that while there have been about 300 confirmed cases in the US, the size of actual outbreak is likely higher. Testing for hMPXV has been limited, NPR previously reported, though earlier this month, 360Dx also reported that the outbreak has led to the development of additional tests and to the ramping up of testing by commercial and academic labs.
According to NPR, Biden Administration officials announced that 56,000 vaccine doses would be made immediately available and another 240,000 would be available in the coming weeks. The Department of Health and Human Services says regions with highest case numbers and need will be prioritized to receive the JYNNEOS vaccine. The agency adds that additional doses should be available later in the summer and estimates that 1.6 million doses will be available this year. The JYNNEOS vaccine is given as two doses, 28 days apart, NPR adds.
"Now, we are recommending that vaccines be provided to both people with known monkeypox exposures who are contacted by public health, and to those people who have been recently exposed to monkeypox but may not be identified through case investigation and contact tracing," Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, says, according to the Post.