On Tuesday, White House officials announced that they would be prioritising people most at risk and communities with the highest number of cases. The US Department of Health and Human Services will send 56,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine immediately to areas with highest rates of transmission.
Over the next four weeks another 240,000 doses will be sent out with more to come over the summer and during autumn.
Officials hope that 1.6million doses will be distributed by the end of autumn.
According to statistics for the Center for Disease Control and prevention (CDC), the states with the highest rate of transmission are California, New York, Illinois and Florida along with Washington DC.
The CDC is prioritising initial vaccine access for those who have been in close contact including sexual contact with someone who has been dragonized with the virus.
Vaccines will also be available to men who have had sex with other men who have reported having multiple sexual partners at a venue or party where the virus is known to have spread.
The vast majority of confirmed monkeypox cases have been among men who have had sex with other men in the US and across the globe.
At a news briefing on Tuesday the CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky confirmed that the vaccine would be available for those with known exposure to the virus.
She said: “We are recommending that vaccines be provided to both people with known monkeypox exposures who are contacted by public health and also to those people who’ve been recently exposed to monkeypox.”
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However, in contrast, David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, argued that the US had already “lost control” of the outbreak in a dire warning.
He said: “We’ve already lost control of this outbreak.
“We think there’s many more cases, and we need to act now to get control of this outbreak.”
Monkeypox was first detected in the US in Massachusetts but according to the CDC has spread across the country with 306 cases in 28 states.
