U.S. government makes an additional 442,000 monkeypox vaccine doses available 

Officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have announced plans to provide up to 442,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine from Bavarian Nordic A/S (OMX:BAVA) available across the country.

In May, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) said it had a contract with Bavarian Nordic worth up to $119 million to convert bulk vaccine into freeze-dried vaccine doses.

The FDA recently signed off on an emergency use authorization to allow the vaccine to be delivered intradermally to support dose sparing.

The agency made the decision based on data from a 2015 clinical study published in Vaccine. That study found that a lower intradermal dose of smallpox vaccine was “immunologically non-inferior to the standard subcutaneous dose.”

The dose-sparing strategy will enable a fraction of the vaccine to be used per patient 18 and older than would be delivered subcutaneously.

In July, the U.S. said it would make available 144,000 monkeypox vaccine doses available.

While the monkeypox vaccine remains in short supply, U.S. officials have boasted that Jynneos vaccine availability in the U.S. outstrips that of many other countries.

“FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization of intradermal injection of the Jynneos vaccine is allowing us to get more doses to jurisdictions faster than anticipated and will help end this national monkeypox outbreak,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, in a news statement.

“We will continue working with our state partners to ensure equitable and fair distribution of these vaccine doses to protect those most at risk and limit the spread of the virus.”

Last week, The New York Times reported that many state officials were frustrated by the rollout of the monkeypox vaccine doses. Officials in more than 20 states and jurisdictions have complained about the distribution of the Jynneos vaccine, according to the paper.