US health regulators said that 786,000 additional monkeypox vaccine doses will be made available to local health departments “as soon as possible”, after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the shots for distribution.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the federal government will announce more allocations of the two-dose vaccine, called Jynneos, for local health departments on Thursday.
More than 3,500 monkeypox cases were reported in the US as of Tuesday, across 46 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Meanwhile, the CDC plans to make the rapidly spreading disease a nationally notifiable condition, a move that would streamline reporting of cases.
The Jynneos vaccine is made by the Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic. The FDA approved the Jynneos vaccine in 2019 for people ages 18 and older who are at a high risk of exposure to monkeypox or smallpox.
The U.S. has shipped more than 300,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine to state and local health authorities since May, according to the Biden administration.
Source - HHS
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