The Biden administration said Thursday it would send a 1.8 million additional doses of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine if states adopt a new vaccination protocol, the White House’s latest effort to curb the growing epidemic of the disease ahead of a slate of major LGBTQ events in the coming months.
The White House’s strategy hinges on a new vaccination protocol that would stretch the nation’s limited vaccine supplies. Patients would receive a fifth of the amount per injection in an intradermal injection method rather than the traditional full dose, which is usually injected into the layer of fat under the skin.
States that agree to use the intradermal method and have used 90% of their current vaccine supply will be able to order more doses starting Monday.
The FDA authorized the new policy last week and federal health agencies say the new protocol is just as effective in preventing monkeypox.
“More gunshots are how we get the epidemic under control,” Robert Fenton, the White House monkeypox response coordinator, told reporters Thursday. “It’s important…It’s innovative, how we’re going to strengthen local efforts to meet people where they are and mitigate the spread of monkeypox.”
There have been more than 14,100 cases of monkeypox in the United States since the outbreak began in May, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease has mainly been detected in men who have sex with men and is mainly spread by close physical contact.
Until now, many gay and bisexual men have struggled to access vaccinations, with appointments taking hours and injections biased towards the richest whites with more flexibility to supply them.
But the new vaccination strategy has already prompted some concern, primarily from Bavarian Nordic, the maker of the Jynneos vaccine. The company sent a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra last week saying it had “some reservationsabout the intradermal method, adding that there is “very limited” data on the safety of the strategy. Officials there have also said they are concerned that patients will not receive their second doses, which are needed to achieve full protection against monkeypox.
The United States was slow to order doses monkeypox vaccine during the early days of the outbreak, which has since been declared a public health emergency. Millions of doses needed on order are unlikely to be delivered until 2023, even though the United States has invested more than $1 billion to develop the inoculations.
Bavarian Nordic said Thursday it has partnered with a Michigan company to fill monkeypox vaccine vials and deliver those blows faster. But the company also said it was “is no longer certain“He can meet the demand for vaccines as cases continue to rise around the world.
The federal government announced Thursday that it will ship 50,000 more doses of a monkeypox treatment called TPOXX to jurisdictions over the next week. This drug, the only treatment for the disease, is also extremely hard to find because of a mountain of bureaucratic red tape.
The White House’s shift in strategy comes amid a busy calendar of events for the LGBTQ community. Two big Pride events are planned for Labor Day weekend in Atlanta and New Orleans, with dozens more expected to take place in the fall. Southern Decadence in New Orleans is expected to attract over 200,000 people.
There are also fears the disease could spread when colleges and universities open in the fall, with many students living in dormitories or attending parties.