The move follows pressure from states, which have pushed the government to release more doses of smallpox vaccine from the Strategic National Stockpile, which manages the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services. The plan will distribute doses based on case rates across a state, focusing on men who have sex with men and their partners, as well as anyone who thinks they may have recently been exposed to the virus, according to two sources familiar with its plans. government. who were not authorized to speak to journalists. Currently, 10 states will be considered to be in the first place for ordering vaccines. The plans are expected to be officially announced later Tuesday afternoon. They are coming in the middle of Pride, a month full of parties celebrating gender diversity and sexual diversity, and a time when many in public health worry that it will fuel the spread of the monkey pox virus that is transmitted through close contact. including sex. The vaccination plan may require the United States to use two different types of vaccines. The first is a newer, modern vaccine called Jynneos, made by a Danish company called Bavarian Nordic. Evaluated and developed for the treatment of smallpox infection in monkeys. The US currently has 64,000 doses of this vaccine in stock. The government will make 56,000 of these installments available to states in Phase 1 traffic. More doses of this vaccine have been ordered and are expected to be delivered within the year. The problem is that the US may not have enough doses of Jynneos to vaccinate anyone who may need it, so public health officials are also considering whether to use a second older type of vaccine called ACAM. The ACAM vaccine was developed to treat smallpox. It is administered using a double-toothed needle that is repeatedly immersed in the vaccine and used to pierce the skin at the top of the arm, causing a small wound or “pocket” to form. “It’s a very similar, old-school technology that basically I don’t know of any clinician who knows how to do that. So it’s really very difficult to develop because you have to train people in a new vaccine methodology.” said Dr. Jay Varma, professor and director of the Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention and Response in New York. The other complication is that the ACAM vaccine uses a live but attenuated version of a virus to vaccinate a person. “It’s not supposed to be safe to use in people with HIV,” Varma said. The main risk group for smallpox in monkeys – men who have sex with men – also has high rates of HIV infection.
