Due to a change in strategy that permits more shots to be drawn from each vial, U.S. officials say they are able to ship out more doses of monkeypox vaccine than they had originally intended.
As per ABC News, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had anticipated allowing the ordering of 221,000 doses beginning on Monday. However, officials stated that 442,000 doses would be made available for purchase by state, local, and territorial health departments.
The accelerated release was only possible because U.S. health officials announced last week that they would stretch the nation’s limited supply of Jynneos monkeypox vaccine by injecting individuals with only one-fifth the normal dose.
Historically, each vaccine dose required the injection of a full vial into deeper tissue. They cited studies indicating that the reduced dose is roughly as effective. The 442,000 doses correspond to approximately 88,000 vials.
Officials stated that the new strategy permits them to make hundreds of thousands more doses available while they collect data on how the vaccines are being administered. This will help the government ensure that doses are administered to those who require them the most, according to officials.
U.S. officials have previously shipped over 630,000 doses, but not all of them have been utilized. Federal health officials have estimated that approximately 3,2 million vaccinations would be required to protect everyone deemed to be at high risk for monkeypox.
