‘Not enough shots’: US faces ‘vaccine cliff’ with monkeypox

Two recent shipments are also enough to cover about a third of the estimated 1.6 million gay and bisexual men deemed at highest risk by authorities and urged to get vaccinated. I only have a vial of Jynneos vaccine for inoculation.

And with the number of cases in the U.S. nearly doubling every week, some health experts fear that vaccine shortages will prevent the country from containing the growing outbreak and preventing the virus from taking hold permanently. It warns that the ability of

“When you look at the math of what the requirements are, we are facing some difficult sleighs here,” said J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Center for Global Health Policy at the Institute for Strategic and International Studies. rice field. podcast Friday, It added that 3.2 million doses would be needed to fully cover HIV-positive men and other at-risk populations targeted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“There won’t be two million doses by the end of the year,” Morrison said.

The shortage of Jynneos, the only vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration to prevent monkeypox, has sent health officials at all levels of government scrambling to come up with strategies. People in hard-hit communities like New York City and D.C., against regulatory advice, for now he chose to give only one dose, leaving federal officials to allocate more. I am looking for Some experts also advocate giving people the option of taking ACAM2000, a less desirable vaccine approved for the smallpox-related virus but not for monkeypox. There is

A federal official working on the monkeypox response spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment. in the coming weeks.

Monkeypox is diagnosed in nearly 5,200 people in the United States, mostly gay and bisexual men. It spreads through skin-to-skin contact, causing fever, swollen glands, severe pain, and lesions. Most experts believe that hundreds or thousands of cases are likely to go undetected.

A CDC spokesperson said Friday, “We expect cases to continue to rise in the coming days and weeks as testing becomes more widely available.

The virus has not yet been linked to a single confirmed death in the United States, but public health leaders continue to worry it will be difficult to eradicate. Facilitates transmission in Central and West Africa.

US officials said they had secured 1.1 million doses of the Jynneos vaccine, including 786,000 doses that were finally approved by regulators after more than a month of delays in Denmark. weeks,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Thursday. Federal regulators reiterated on Friday that the vaccine should be given to most people as a two-dose regimen.

However, the total population used by federal authorities to calculate vaccine allocations includes those who have been in contact with a monkeypox patient and those who have had multiple cases within the past two weeks in areas known to be endemic for monkeypox. includes men who have had sexual partners. At least 1.6 million, possibly more, according to the CDC.

Demand is also driven by people seeking vaccines who may not fit into these categories but are concerned about possible infections.

“Overall, there are not enough vaccine doses to meet current demand, and most jurisdictions have exhausted or exceeded quotas and in some cases are still unable to meet demand. ’” concluded the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan healthcare think tank.and analysis Friday.

The shortage will become even more pronounced if the outbreak spreads to other populations in the coming weeks, prompting millions more Americans to seek a vaccine. Confirmed in a child last week and pregnant woman this week. Previous outbreaks abroad have spread to children, women and other vulnerable groups.

“When we move to mass vaccination, we’re going to need a huge amount of vaccine,” said Morrison of CSIS.

Experts have struggled to accurately predict the course of the monkeypox outbreak, warning that limited testing is complicating efforts to get a true picture of the spread of the virus. According to Trevor Bedford, a computational biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, the number of cases in the United States approximately doubles every 7.6 days.

In an effort to contain local outbreaks, many state and local health officials are requesting as many Gynneos vaccines as possible, and states like California and New York, which are the worst affected, have made it available to officials. It has repeatedly asked the federal government for more doses than it says is possible.

Biden administration officials say they are working to secure more vaccines, and say they have also obtained raw materials for a potential 11 million doses of Jynneos.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen next, so we need to be prepared to spread the infection to more people,” said Dawn O’Connell, assistant secretary of state who oversees the Office of Strategic Preparedness and Response, on Thursday. says it could take months to find a manufacturing partner to turn these raw materials into a vaccine.

In addition to vaccines, the administration is also touting a multifaceted strategy that includes making testing and treatment available and educating at-risk communities on how to protect themselves.

“We will continue to look at ways to get more vaccines to people across the country faster, but that’s just part of our strategy,” White House spokesman Chris Marger said in a statement.

Meanwhile, public health leaders in New York City and DC Said They will focus on giving the first dose of Jynneos as much as possible, and will hold off on the second dose for now, in hopes of expanding the limited vaccine supply as much as possible.

“DC Health has determined that its most urgent priority is to provide first doses of the vaccine to high-risk residents,” the city’s health department said. statement this week. “This is very important because getting more people vaccinated in the first shot will help contain the virus.”

Federal officials on Friday reiterated that a double-dose strategy is necessary for adequate protection.

“While the FDA understands the desire to get as many doses as possible, agencies are advised not to deviate from product labeling.

Amanda Jezek, senior vice president of public policy and government relations at the Infectious Diseases Association of America, said local public health clinics are also working with “underserved individuals.” disproportionately wealthy people.

Some experts called on US officials instead Encouraging Americans to get the ACAM2000 vaccine approved against smallpox, a related virus, that the United States had previously stockpiled in case of a potential outbreak. It relies on injecting people with a weakened virus alive, which carries additional risks. It is also administered through a series of rapid punctures, which can cause bleeding and scarring.

“No one is into it. You shouldn’t be into it. bioethicist Ezequiel Emmanuel, who attended the

Emanuel blamed health officials for not ordering boosters of Gynneos early in the outbreak, especially when other countries moved to buy the vaccine. He said. “This is a serious problem.”

next arrival 500,000 doses of Gineos vaccine No sales from Denmark-based manufacturer Bavarian Nordic are expected until the end of the year. In October, when demand increases worldwide, Two government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said:

“An additional 500,000 doses ordered by the United States in June are expected to be delivered this year,” a Bayern Nordic spokesperson said in an email, giving specifics on timing and the company’s commitments to other countries. I didn’t answer any questions.

Peter Hotes, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said he was open to the idea of ​​”dose sharing” as a temporary solution, allowing people to receive one dose of Gynneos and one dose of ACAM2000. It suggests that you can receive the administration of

“We don’t have a lot of time to fix this,” says Hotez. “Once you enter a rodent population, you get immobilized here, just like you would in Central and West Africa.”