The US has ordered 13 million additional doses of the monkeypox vaccine after a Massachusetts man contracted the rare — but potentially serious — virus, officials said Thursday.
The massive order of $119 million worth of Jynneos shots — which can be used to treat both monkeypox virus and smallpox — was made by the biotechnology company Bavarian Nordic, according to Newsweek.
In 2015, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Jynneos as a vaccine against the rare virus.
Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 in a group of monkeys kept for research, but the first human case was recorded in 1970.
Symptoms include fever, headache, body aches, swollen lymph nodes, chills, exhaustion and, in some cases, skin rash.
There have been several flare-ups of the disease in recent years, several of which have occurred in the UK. In 2021, two cases have been reported in the US.
On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health confirmed that the man who had been to Canada had contracted the virus and had been hospitalized in good condition. The agency said there was “no risk to the public”.
“DPH is working closely with the CDC, relevant local health services and patient health care providers to identify individuals who may have been in contact with the patient while he was infectious,” the agency said in a statement.
Other countries have seen a larger outbreak of the virus. This month alone, the UK Health Security Agency reported that nine cases of the virus had been detected, mostly among men.
As of Thursday, no direct travel links have been established to a country where monkpox is endemic, meaning it could have spread locally.
Bavarian Nordic has worked with the US since the first monkeypox outbreak in 2003, providing nearly 30 million doses of Jynneos.
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