New York, June 29 (BUS): In response to the sudden and increasing spread of monkeypox, US health officials on Tuesday expanded the pool of people recommended for monkeypox vaccination.
They also said they are introducing more monkeypox vaccine, working to expand testing, and taking other steps to try to pre-empt an outbreak, the Associated Press reported.
“We will continue to take aggressive action against this virus,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, who has also been playing a role in how the government deals with monkeypox.
The department said it is working to expand the group of people who are advised to be vaccinated to include those who may realize for themselves that they could have been infected. This includes men who have recently had sex with men at parties or other gatherings in cities where monkeypox cases have been identified.
Most monkeypox patients experience fever, body aches, chills, and fatigue. People with more serious illness may develop a rash and lesions on the face and hands that can spread to other parts of the body.
The disease is endemic in parts of Africa, where people have been infected through bites from rodents or small animals. It does not usually spread easily between people.
In the past month, cases have begun to emerge in Europe and the United States. Many — but not all — of those infected with the virus have traveled internationally. Most of them were men who have sex with men, but health officials stress that anyone can get monkeypox.
Case numbers continued to grow. As of Tuesday, the United States had identified 306 cases in 27 states and the District of Columbia. More than 4,700 cases have been found in more than 40 other countries outside the regions of Africa where the virus is endemic.
There have been no US deaths and officials say the risk to the American public is low. But they are taking steps to reassure people that medical procedures are in place to deal with the growing problem.
One step has been to expand who is recommended for vaccination. Vaccines are usually given to build up immunity in people before they become infected. But if given within days or even a few weeks of first becoming infected, some vaccines can reduce the severity of symptoms.
A two-dose vaccine, Jynneos, has been approved for monkeypox in the United States. The government has much more doses of the older smallpox vaccine – ACAM2000 – which they say can also be used, but this vaccine is considered to have more serious side effects and is not recommended for people with HIV human immunity. So it’s the Jynneos vaccine that officials are trying to use as a primary weapon against the monkeypox outbreak.
To date, the government has deployed more than 9,000 doses of the vaccine. US officials said Tuesday they are increasing the amount of the Jynneos vaccine they provide, allocating 56,000 doses immediately and about 240,000 more over the coming weeks. They promised more than a million people over the coming months.
Officials said that limited doses of Jynneos will be allocated “using a four-tiered distribution strategy that prioritizes jurisdictions with the highest rates of monkeypox,” and that the number of doses distributed will depend on how many people are at risk of monkeypox and how many of them cannot get ACAM2000. due to the human immunodeficiency virus.
That suggests the largest number of doses may go to states like New York, California and Illinois, each of which have reported more than 40 cases. But officials on Tuesday did not specify exactly which jurisdictions would be at the top of the list.
David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, criticized the government’s announcement.
“We have more questions than ever about how to make this vaccine more vulnerable in a fair way and how the United States will ramp up testing and provide access to the best treatments,” Harvey said in a statement.
Another change was announced Tuesday: So far, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has advised post-exposure vaccinations to be given to people who health officials have identified as close personal contacts of the cases. But on Tuesday, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials said they are extending the recommendation to people who have never been identified but may realize on their own that they may have been infected.
This can include men who have sex with men who have recently had multiple sexual partners in a location where monkeypox has been known to occur or in an area where monkeypox is common.
“It’s like we’re broadening the definition of contact,” said Jennifer McQuiston of the CDC. If people have been to a party or any other place where monkeypox is known to spread, she said, “we recommend you come in and get a vaccine.”
The CDC’s expansion follows similar steps taken in New York City and the District of Columbia.
The District of Columbia identified 19 cases, but case-tracking investigations revealed that some of the infected men were in gatherings who were cuddling, kissing or in other forms of close intimate contact with people they didn’t know, Anil Mangla said. From the capital’s health department.
It was clear that we were “missing something here,” and that we needed to start providing services to others, said Mangla, the epidemiologist.
Last Thursday, the New York City Department of Health — armed with 1,000 doses of Jynneos from the federal government — announced that it would open a temporary clinic to offer the vaccine to all gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men who have had multiple or unknown sexual partners in the past two weeks.
But soon all the appointments filled up for that day, and the last round of appointments was on Monday. “Until we receive more supplies, we will not be able to issue additional vaccination appointments,” Patrick Galaho, a spokesman for the city’s health department, said in an email.
On Monday, the District of Columbia Department of Health took a similar step. Mangla said the department started taking appointments at 1 p.m. on Monday, but had to stop after 20 minutes.
He said the department only had 200 doses of Jynneos, and it was clear at this point that the department didn’t have the vaccine supplies or the staff to continue enrolling new people.
MI