April 05, 2024
2 min read
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Key takeaways:
- Two years after a global mpox outbreak, a vaccine has been made commercially available.
- Mpox cases through March 30, 2024, are more than double what they were in the same time period in 2023.
An mpox vaccine is now commercially available in the United States, expanding the locations where patients can access the shot to include pharmacies, physician offices and other facilities that normally vaccinate.
The number of mpox cases so far in 2024 is more than double what it was by this time last year, according to the CDC, although not as high as during the 2022 global outbreak.
Data derived from CDC.
“From the beginning of the mpox outbreak, almost 2 years ago, the prompt availability of an approved vaccine combined with a strong public health response have helped to significantly reduce the impact of this debilitating disease but, unfortunately, mpox has not gone away completely,” Paul Chaplin, PhD, president and CEO of Bavarian Nordic, the manufacturer of the Jynneos vaccine, said in a press release.
At its height in July 2022, the number of mpox cases in the U.S. rose by roughly 2,000 a week, prompting the federal government to declare the outbreak a public health emergency.
Days after the emergency declaration, the FDA issued an emergency use authorization to allow fractional dosing of Jynneos for high-risk adults and children to stretch the country’s supply.
The vaccine, which was approved by the FDA in 2019, was deemed effective at one-fifth the recommended dose, although people still required two doses for lasting protection.
WHO declared mpox was no longer a global public health emergency in May 2023 after a 90% decline in cases over a 3-month period, about 4 months after the public health emergency in the U.S. had expired.
Although cases declined in the U.S. to a point that the CDC stopped updating its mpox outbreak tracker, cases have started to increase during the first 3 months of 2024.
As of the week ending March 30, 2024, 658 mpox cases have been reported to the CDC’s Nationally Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) — an increase of 23 cases from the week before —compared with 306 through the first 3 months of 2023. In the last year, the maximum number of cases reported to the NNDSS in a single week was 74.
According to the CDC, federal agencies are working with Bavarian Nordic to ensure access to the vaccine as it is made available at physician offices, pharmacies and public health facilities, as well as updating guidance on its use.
HHS and the CDC said federal government services to deliver mpox vaccines to uninsured and underinsured people also will continue.
“During the period immediately following commercialization, HHS will continue to make Jynneos vaccine available as needed,” HHS said in a statement. “The HHS-provided Jynneos is intended only as a supplemental supply while commercial availability ramps up to support access in circumstances in which commercial product is not yet available.”
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