White House announces monkeypox vaccine strategy

 The Administration plans to immediately allocate 56,000 doses of JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine from the Strategic National Stockpile to states and territories for individuals with presumed or confirmed exposure to the virus, prioritizing jurisdictions with the highest cases and population at risk, the White House announced last night. The Administration previously limited the vaccine to those with confirmed exposure.

Under the change, eligible individuals include people who had close physical contact with someone diagnosed with monkeypox, and men who have sex with men and recently had multiple sex partners in a venue or area where monkeypox is spreading, the White House said. The Department of Health and Human Services expects to receive 1.6 million doses of the two-dose vaccine this year. States and territories also may request the ACAM2000 smallpox vaccine to vaccinate certain individuals at risk of monkeypox infection under an expanded access investigational new drug protocol sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

CDC yesterday activated its Emergency Operations Center to monitor and coordinate the emergency response to monkeypox and mobilize additional CDC personnel and resources. The agency has expanded testing capacity for the virus since May 18, when the first U.S. case in the global outbreak was confirmed, to include up to 78 state public health laboratories and five commercial laboratory companies. As of June 28, 306 U.S. monkeypox cases have been reported.