Dive Brief:
- With U.S. cases of monkeypox on the rise, HHS said Friday it is making 131,000 additional doses of the vaccine immediately available to states and local health departments from a newly arrived supply, on top of about 100,000 doses distributed in the past week.
- That brings the total vaccine doses made available since late May to more than 300,000, the department said. A much larger supply of Bavarian Nordic’s two-dose Jynneos vaccine on order will boost U.S. stockpiles to nearly 7 million doses by mid-2023.
- The push to expand vaccine distribution, as well as testing capacity for the virus, comes as case counts are expected to rise further in the coming weeks, and hard-hit locations such as New York City face vaccine supply constraints.
Dive Insight:
Monkeypox, part of the same family of viruses as smallpox, spreads through close contact, causing skin lesions and flu-like symptoms. As of Friday, roughly 12,600 cases have been reported in 68 countries, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 1,800 monkeypox infections are confirmed across the U.S., while no deaths from the virus have been reported.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said during a press briefing Friday that of the 700 U.S. cases for which demographic information is available, most involved men who have sex with men. This group will be among the first to be offered access to the Jynneos vaccine, she said. Cases of the virus are expected to increase through August, Walensky said.
Along with New York, states with the most cases include California, Illinois and Florida. Calling New York City the "epicenter of the monkeypox epidemic," Mayor Eric Adams stressed the urgent need to address the current vaccine shortage through upcoming allocations and expand vaccine access to those most at risk in a call last week with Walensky and HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
On Friday, HHS said it had ordered another 2.5 million doses of the Jynneos vaccine to respond to the current outbreak. The new order follows a July 1 order, also for 2.5 million doses, that is headed for the Strategic National Stockpile over the next year.
“We continue to do everything we can to ramp up supply of vaccines and distribute them to those in need as quickly and equitably as possible,” HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell said in a statement.
The FDA recently completed an inspection of the Bavarian Nordic manufacturing plant in Denmark, which could add another 780,000 doses to the government’s available supply if doses from the facility are approved later this month, HHS said.
In addition to vaccine stockpiling, HHS is working to boost availability of monkeypox tests nationwide by partnering with five commercial testing companies. Capacity is now up to 70,000 tests per week, from 6,000 at the start of the outbreak, the agency said.
In May, Moderna said it would begin research on a monkeypox vaccine.