“The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today placed an order for another 2.5 million doses of Bavarian Nordic’s JYNNEOS vaccine to respond to the current monkeypox outbreak and strengthen the country’s smallpox preparedness,” the release read. “HHS also announced that an additional 131,000 doses of JYNNEOS just arrived in the SNS and the department is making these doses immediately available to states and jurisdictions.”
The new order will bring the US government stock of vaccine to treat monkeypox to nearly 7 million doses by the middle of 2023, as per the release.
The number of vaccine doses available today has also increased to more than 300,000, the release added.
HHS has so far shipped about 156,000 doses to US states and territories, with approximately 100,000 doses delivered in the past week, according to the release.
As of Friday, there are 1,470 monkeypox/orthopoxvirus cases in the United States, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
US doctors have issued statements saying the public should not panic because monkeypox can be identified and is treatable.