Tuesday 2 August 2022 05:45 PM US allowed monkeypox vaccine stockpile to dwindle 99.99% from 20million to ... trends now
The United States allowed its monkeypox vaccine stockpile to dwindle from 20million to just 2,400 doses because it had only planned for a smallpox outbreak and was working on alternatives, it was revealed today — as California and Illinois declared a state of emergency over the virus.
Official documents showed how the 'strategic' stockpile was allowed to plummet to 0.012 percent from its peak in 2013, as doses of the Jynneos vaccine — which only have a three-year shelf life — ran out.
An attempt was made to restock it in 2015 when another 8million doses were ordered. Once these were expired, America signed for another 1.3million — but mostly these were still in Denmark when monkeypox struck because the Food and Drug Administration still hadn't inspected their manufacturing facility.
Thousands of gay or bisexual men have been left waiting weeks to get doses, with many left with no option but to spend hours sitting at home hitting refresh on their browsers in the hopes of securing a coveted appointment. States have also complained they are getting too few doses from the national stockpile.
The revelation published by the New York Times came as America's cases tally hit 5,800, with a further 622 infections detected this weekend. There have been no deaths to date, but four have been detected outside Africa including two in Spain which has a similar-sized outbreak.
California and Illinois — which have the second and third highest case counts — both said they would declare a state of emergency over monkeypox today. They join New York City and San Francisco in hitting the panic button over the outbreak, although federal officials are yet to make a similar move.
America once had 20million doses of Jynneos vaccine - the preferred option for fighting monkeypox - in its national stockpile. But these jabs, with a shelf-life of three years, quickly expired. It has moved to replenish stocks since then, but bought less as the strategy shifted to developing a longer-lived jab
The above map shows where in the U.S. monkeypox cases have been detected. New York has the largest outbreak and is the only state to confirm more than 1,000 cases
Pictured above are men waiting in line for the monkeypox vaccine in Encino, California. It came after the state's governor declared a state of emergency in the area
Pictured above are men standing in long lines to get doses of the monkeypox vaccine in San Francisco in early July. The city was the first place to declare monkeypox an emergency
America's national stockpile of these jabs was ramped up after the 9/11 attacks over fears terrorist groups could get hold of and re-release the smallpox virus, which is currently eradicated.
The Jynneous doses were only ever meant to be offered to vulnerable people in this case, such as young children and older adults. Millions of doses of other jabs like ACAM2000 and Dryvax were held for the general population, but these are generally not preferred because of the risk of side-effects.
As the Bavarian Nordic-made jabs expired, however, federal officials decided to invest in developing new 'freeze-dried' jabs that could last for up to ten years — or three-times longer than current stocks.
