Health

US offers extra dose of monkeypox vaccine for pride events


NEW YORK – US is spending 50,000 more doses monkeypox vaccine Health officials said on Thursday.

The number of doses sent for each dose will be based on factors such as the size of the event, how many healthcare workers will be willing to inject, and how many attendees are considered to be most at risk of contracting the virus.

Bob Fenton, the White House monkeypox response coordinator, told reporters on Thursday: “Adding more shots to the arm is how we’re going to get the outbreak under control. He said the effort was an attempt to “meet people where they are.”

At least a dozen America’s Pride Event are scheduled for the next two months, including large gatherings in Atlanta and New Orleans in early September. US officials say they will send up to 2,000 additional doses to North Carolina, which will host the Charlotte Pride Festival & Parade this weekend.

Read more: Jonathan Van Ness: We haven’t taken monkeypox seriously yet

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Monkeypox is endemic in parts of Africa, where people have been infected through the bite of rodents or small animals, but it is not considered a disease. spread easily between people until May, when infections appeared in Europe and the United States

There have been more than 39,000 cases reported in countries that have never seen smallpox in monkeys. The majority occurs in men who have sex with men, but health officials stress that anyone can get monkeypox.

America Most infections of any country – more than 13,500. About 98% of cases in the US are men and about 93% are men who have reported recent sexual relations with other men.

Officials say the virus is mainly spread by skin-to-skin contact, but they warn it can also be transmitted in other ways, including by touching the bed linen of a person with monkeypox .

People with monkeypox may experience fever, body aches, chills, and fatigue. Many people during the outbreak developed extremely painful milia-like bumps. No one in the US has died yet, but deaths have been reported in other countries.

Read more: Rename smallpox variants to limit stigma, Africa’s CDC says

The US has a limited supply of what is considered its main weapon against the virus – a vaccine called Jynneos. Doses are now being given to people as soon as they think they have been exposed. Scientists are still trying to determine how well the photos work.

Last week, the government moved to prolong the supply by injecting people with 1/5 of the usual dose, injecting just under the skin, instead of injecting a full vial into deeper tissue. Officials this week announced the release of 442,000 smaller doses ordered by state, local and territory health departments. On Thursday, they said there will be more next week – 1.8 million doses, or 360,000 vials.

Many healthcare professionals may have little experience with subcutaneous injection, which requires different types of needles and syringes. Several health departments and health centers, including in Atlanta and Los Angeles, have begun vaccinating monkeys against smallpox that way, US officials said. But some local officials said it could take a week or more to make the change.

Also on Thursday, health officials said next week they will increase the supply of TPOXX, a drug used to treat smallpox in monkeys, by 50,000 courses of the treatment.

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