Monkeypox vaccine strategy shift yields more supply for some, hurdles for others

CNN — Most places in the United States with heavy monkeypox caseloads have shifted their vaccination strategies to the Biden administration’s low-dose, intradermal approach – and they are reporting varying results so far. When asked “Has your jurisdiction implemented the intradermal vaccination strategy?,” 74% of survey respondents reported yes, 3% no, and 24% reported “partially.” So far, the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response has made a total of 1.1 million vials of Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos monkeypox vaccine available for free to jurisdictions to support monkeypox response efforts. The San Francisco Department of Public Health wrote in an emailed statement to CNN that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Health have provided guidance on how to switch to the intradermal technique “as a safe and effective way to vaccinate more people, as well as a requirement to receive additional vaccine allotments.” The statement added that switching to a new technique “takes time.” After New York City adopted the new intradermal vaccination strategy last week, it announced that it would make more than 12,000 new appointments available to the public for people eligible for vaccination who haven’t yet received a first dose. Getting all five doses Dr. Sharon Welbel, an infectious disease physician and the system director of hospital epidemiology and infection control at Cook County Health in Illinois, told CNN that she has been in meetings with public health officials in other cities who reported that they haven’t been able to get five doses out of the vials, but she said every one of her vaccinators has been successful pulling five doses per vial. Overall, the switch to an intradermal injection method “is stretching supply,” but not every vial isyielding five doses, wrote Hannan of the Association of Immunization Managers, who has been hearing that most vaccine administrators are extracting about three to five doses per vial.