United States will release vaccine for monkeypox from stockpile, CDC announces

The U.S. is releasing vaccines that can prevent monkeypox from its national stockpile, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials announced Monday, after at least one U.S. resident tested positive for the rare disease.

More than 1,000 doses of the two-dose vaccine are in the Strategic National Stockpile, according to Capt. Jennifer McQuiston, the deputy director of the CDC’s High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology division.

“We expect that level to ramp up very quickly in the coming weeks as the company provides more doses to [the U.S.],” McQuiston said at a media telebriefing. Jynneos, made by Bavarian Nordic A/S, has been approved in the U.S. since 2019 for use against smallpox and monkeypox in high-risk adults aged 18 and older.

She said there are two vaccines that could be used to prevent monkeypox and they are available in different levels. “We have a good stock of vaccine. We’ve been preparing for the possibility of needing to use it for smallpox,” she told reporters. 

Alternatively, there are about 100 million doses of the older smallpox vaccine, ACAM2000. McQuiston said ACAM2000 potentially has significant side effects and there would have to be some “serious discussion” before it is widely used. 

The U.S. also has more than 2 million doses of an antiviral called tecovirimat, approved to treat smallpox in those who become infected, the CDC said. The manufacturer is working on creating an intravenous form.

As CNN reported, “McQuiston said the CDC expects to receive samples from the four suspected cases (Tuesday or Wednesday) for further analysis. Labs within the CDC’s Laboratory Response Network can test for an orthopoxvirus, and then confirmation of monkeypox specifically is done at the agency through PCR tests, which takes a couple of hours to run.”

Monday, the European version of the CDC cautioned that those who are infected should avoid close contact with pets because it’s possible if the infection spreads among the animal population, it could become endemic in Europe. It, however, deemed the risk to be somewhat low.

Sexual activity is a suspected link in some of the cases globally, but the tie is believed to be from the close contact involved, Dr. John Brooks, the CDC’s chief medical officer of HIV prevention, told CNN.

“Monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted infection in the typical sense,” he said, “but it can be transmitted during sexual and intimate contact, as well as with personal contact and shared bedding and clothing.”

He added that a “notable faction of cases” in the global outbreak — but not all, by any means — have been among gay and bisexual men.

“Some groups may have a greater chance of exposure right now, but by no means is the current risk of exposure to monkeypox exclusively to the gay and bisexual community in the U.S.,” Brooks said. “Anyone, anyone, can develop (and) spread monkeypox infection, but … many of those affected in the current global outbreak identified as gay and bisexual men.”

President Joe Biden expressed concern about monkeypox over the weekend, but assured reporters during a joint press conference with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida that the United States has enough vaccine stockpiled to meet the needs.