On Monkeypox and vaccines -May 24, 2022

Informational Points in no particular order

U.S. health officials are releasing some Jynneos vaccine doses for monkeypox

This vaccine was released in 2019 and can be used for both smallpox and monkeypox.

There are currently 4 (I think) cases in the US.

This is not usually a highly contagious disease and is less severe than smallpox.

Aside from one outbreak in the past, this disease is primarily limited to Africa

There appears to be a sexually transmitted disease component to at least some of these cases. (this appears to be new)

The doses are only for people with close contact, high risk, immunocompromised.

It is given as 2 doses 4 weeks apart.

The US only has about 1000 doses, so we need more doses before this vaccine can become more widely available.

The US has quite a bit of the older smallpox vaccine but it is for smallpox and is only partially effective against monkeypox and it has lots of side effects.

#monkeypox #vaccination #infectiousdisease https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/us-health-officials-releasing-some-jynneos-vaccine-doses-monkeypox-cdc-2022-05-23/

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-approves-first-live-non-replicating-vaccine-prevent-smallpox-and-monkeypox