With supplies low, FDA authorizes plan to stretch limited monkeypox vaccine doses
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The U.S. monkeypox outbreak is growing. And the supply of vaccines isn't keeping pace. That's why yesterday, the Biden administration decided to change how the vaccine is being injected in hopes of stretching the supply. NPR's Ari Daniel reports.
ARI DANIEL, BYLINE: The two-dose monkeypox vaccine had been given subcutaneously - that is, under the skin and within the fat layer. But federal public health officials say the vaccine is just as effective when less of it is injected intradermally - within the skin layers.
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ROBERT CALIFF: This will increase the total number of doses available for use by up to fivefold.
DANIEL: Dr. Robert Califf is FDA commissioner. The problem has been that the stores of monkeypox vaccine in the U.S. are insufficient. Some experts say injecting into the skin like this makes sense, like Jon Andrus, an infectious disease specialist at George Washington University.
JON ANDRUS: The skin is home to a number of immune cells that trigger a potentially better immune response. So it makes sense to go forward with it.
DANIEL: Even with the change, an individual still needs two doses of the vaccine. And the approach has its challenges. It's harder to inject a vaccine in between layers of skin and requires special training. Also, although the technique's been successful with other diseases, like polio and yellow fever, there's only one study showing it works with the monkeypox vaccine.
ANDRUS: But in public health, sometimes you don't have the luxury, the time. We need to respond very quickly.
ANNE RIMOIN: Right now, we need a lot of vaccine in a very short time period if we're going to get in front of this virus.
DANIEL: Anne Rimoin is an epidemiologist at UCLA and says the quicker we vaccinate those at greatest risk, the better we'll be at slowing the outbreak. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis is deputy coordinator of the White House National Monkeypox Response.
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DEMETRE DASKALAKIS: The population that is being overrepresented in this outbreak - gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men - in recent history have demonstrated significant confidence in vaccine. So just given the history, I imagine that we will likely still run out of vaccines before we run out of arms.
DANIEL: The other shift in federal guidance is that those at risk who are under 18 are now eligible for the vaccine.
Ari Daniel, NPR News.
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