top line
People who were vaccinated against monkeypox were 14 times less likely to get the disease than those who were not vaccinated, Rochelle Wallinsky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Wednesday. Put up the shot.
key facts
Walinsky said during a press briefing that she had a “level of cautious optimism” about preliminary data, collected between July and September 2022 from patients who received a single dose of the Genus vaccine in 32 states.
The findings suggest that even a single dose of the vaccine provides at least some protection from infection as early as two weeks after getting the vaccine, although Walinsky stressed that two doses are still recommended.
The CDC director added that preventative behavioral changes — such as avoiding close skin contact with someone who has monkeypox — could also help reduce infection, especially as the government continues to gather data on the vaccine’s durability.
The White House will allow people to be vaccinated in other parts of the body besides the forearm, including the shoulder or upper back, after judicial authorities and advocates told the government that some were refusing to get the shot to avoid the stigma from being visible. Demeter Daskalakis, the deputy coordinator for monkeypox control at the White House, said the vaccine mark is on their arm.
This news comes as the number of monkeypox cases continues to decline around the world and in the United States.
Huge number
More than 800,000. That’s how many monkeypox vaccines have been given so far, Robert Fenton, the White House coordinator for monkeypox, said Wednesday.
Amazing fact
The United States has reported 25,341 cases in all states since the outbreak began in May, according to the CDC. New infections began declining at the end of August when more vaccines became available and after MSM took a raft of measures to prevent the spread of the disease, Madi officials said. According to a recent study shared by the CDC, about 50% of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men reported taking steps to protect themselves and their partners from monkeypox.
main background
The White House declared monkeypox a public health emergency in August to streamline resources and boost vaccine supplies after cases began rising. The United States is relying on a small Danish biotech company, Bavarian Nordic, for its two-dose Genius vaccine, the only vaccine approved by the Food and Drug Administration for monkeypox. Data on the effectiveness of monkeypox vaccines in the real world has been very limited, as the Jynneos vaccine was originally designed to prevent smallpox, a related disease. This is also because previous cases around the world have been rare, although the disease is endemic to certain areas of Africa, where it has been largely ignored by the international community. Studies from the state of Northern Bavaria and data from Africa have shown that genus works against monkeypox, according to the CDC.
the shadow
Faced with vaccine shortages and a backlash over a slow vaccine release, the federal government last month approved a new vaccination strategy known as “dose sparing” to increase the number of injections. The new method allows health care workers to extract up to five doses from a single-dose vial of Jynneos vaccine for injection into the skin, into the skin, rather than the skin, or subcutaneously into fat. The National Institutes of Health began a clinical trial earlier this month to evaluate the effectiveness of this new method.
in-depth reading
The National Institutes of Health will study a new method of “sparing doses” against monkeypox vaccination (Forbes)
Biden administration authorizes new monkeypox vaccine dose strategy to extend supplies (Forbes)
The Biden administration is betting that a little-studied vaccine could stop monkeypox (Politico)
