Nearly 800,000 additional monkeypox vaccine doses will soon be available for distribution to states and jurisdictions, healthcare leaders said during a July 28 HHS news conference.
The 786,000 additional doses of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine are on top of the more than 300,000 doses already distributed. This means the U.S. has secured a total of about 1.1 million doses "that will be in the hands of those who need them in the next several weeks," HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said.
The news comes after the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global emergency July 23 and as the CDC reported more than 4,600 confirmed cases in the U.S. as of July 27.
Dr. Jennifer McQuiston, deputy director of the CDC's division of high consequence pathogens and pathology, said the additional doses will be distributed while considering people most at risk and where cases are increasing.
Separately, President Joe Biden's administration is expected to declare monkeypox a public health emergency as soon as the end of the week, Politico reported July 27, citing two people with knowledge of the matter. Such a declaration would come from HHS.
Mr. Becerra said July 28 that HHS "continue[s] to monitor the response throughout the country on monkeypox" and will weigh any decision regarding a public health emergency declaration based on the response.