Monkeypox: Biden administration widens approach, tens of thousands of vaccine doses to be distributed

Biden administration to widen access to monkeypox vaccine People who have had multiple recent partners in venues where monkeypox virus was spreading or in a geographic area where monkeypox is transmitting, not just those with known exposure, will be able to get the vaccine. Helen Branswell STAT

The Biden Administration announced Tuesday that it will broaden availability of monkeypox vaccine as it attempts to contain a growing outbreak of the disease.

In addition to offering vaccine to people who have had known exposure to the virus, federal health officials said they will make vaccine available to men who have sex with men who have had multiple recent partners in venues where it is known monkeypox virus was spreading or in a geographic area where monkeypox is transmitting.

When vaccine supplies are more robust, the response may shift to a pre-exposure approach, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested.

“As soon as we have more vaccines available, we will of course continue to expand from a post-exposure prophylaxis strategy ideally to a pre-exposure prophylaxis strategy,” Walensky said during a media briefing organized by the White House. “I do think it would be wise to address that expansion at a time when we have more vaccine so we can really follow where the outbreak is densest.”

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