US Monkeypox Vaccine Campaign Ramped Up, 56,000 Doses Released

The US government is securing an additional 240,000 monkeypox vaccine doses in the coming weeks, and expects to have a total of 1.6 million doses available this year.

US health authorities said on Tuesday they were immediately releasing 56,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine -- five times the number distributed so far -- to areas of high transmission as part of a major escalation of the country's immunization strategy.

Until now, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) only recommended monkeypox vaccines be offered to those who had confirmed exposures.

"But now, we are recommending that vaccines be provided to both people with known monkeypox exposures who are contacted by public health, and also to those people who've been recently exposed to monkeypox that may not be identified through case investigations and contact tracing," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said in a briefing.

Examples include men who have sex with men (MSM) who have recently had multiple sex partners in a venue where there was known to be monkeypox or in an area where monkeypox is spreading.