YORK, Pa. — Since May of this year, there have been over 10,000 reported cases of Monkeypox in the U.S. The rapid situation has caused the White House to declare Monkeypox a public health emergency.
On Tuesday, The FDA issued an emergency use authorization that allows health care providers to reduce the dose of the Monkeypox vaccine.
“For the Jynneos vaccine to be administered intradermally the dose would be much smaller, than the shot in the arm type of thing," said Dr. Raghav Tirupathi with Wellspan Health.
The dose of the Monkeypox vaccine would be reduced to 1/5th of what it has been given prior.
“The dose was studied and found to be as effective as the subacute injections and that’s where that information comes from, that decision comes from," said Tirupathi
It will still remain a 2-shot regimen with 28 days in between.
“They went with that decision mainly to be able to vaccinate more at-risk population folks, and also increase the accessibility and the equity of the vaccine," said Tirupathi.
According to the CDC there are up to 1.7 million people at the highest risk for contracting Monkeypox right now.