Officials boost monkeypox vax effort with 1.8M doses
The Biden administration is planning to accelerate the delivery of its remaining supply of monkeypox vaccines and will make an additional 1.8 million doses available for ordering starting Monday, officials said Thursday.
Conditions: Jurisdictions will only be able to access the additional doses if they adopt the new intradermal administration of vaccine and have used 90 percent of their current supply of vaccine, officials said.
Another delivery of 150,000 Jynneos vials will arrive in September, after the White House sped up a shipment that was scheduled for October.
A targeted approach: The Department of Health and Human Services is also launching a pilot program to provide additional vaccine allocations to state and local health departments in jurisdictions that are hosting large events that attract members of the LGBTQ community.
- The pilot program will set aside up to 50,000 doses from the Strategic National Stockpile that communities can request, on top of their existing allocation. For example, the administration will send up to 2,000 additional doses to North Carolina this weekend for the Charlotte Pride Festival and Parade.
Officials also announced an effort to make the antiviral drug Tpoxx more widely available by “prepositioning” 50,000 courses to jurisdictions across the country.
- Starting next week, jurisdictions will be allocated courses of Tpoxx using a formula that takes into account both the number of cases in their jurisdiction and the number of individuals who have the highest risk of contracting the virus, including individuals who have HIV or other immunocompromised conditions.
