US to release monkey pox vaccine from national stockpile for 'high-risk' people

The United States is responding to a request for the release of monkeypox vaccine from the nation's Strategic National Stockpile as a global outbreak of cases is under investigation.

There is one confirmed case of monkeypox and four suspected cases in the United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as of 23rd may. In the United States, the two-dose Jynneos vaccine is licensed to prevent smallpox and specifically to prevent monkeypox.

Right now, there is over 1,000 doses of vaccine available, and it is expected that level to ramp up very quickly in the coming weeks as the company provides more doses. They also mentioned that there is another smallpox vaccine licensed in the United States, ACAM2000, that could be used to prevent monkeypox, and the country has more than 100 million doses.

The CDC expects to receive samples from the four suspected cases "today or tomorrow" 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 take "a couple of hours".

Monkeypox is not a sexually transmitted infection in the typical sense, but it can be transmitted during sexual and intimate content, as well as with personal contact and shared bedding and clothing. Anyone can get or spread monkeypox, but a "notable fraction of cases" in the latest global outbreak are happening among gay and bisexual men as of now.