NYC is being discontinued to delay the introduction of second doses of the monkey pox Vaccine because it is short on doses, health officials say amid warnings US outbreak is already out of control.
The city’s Health Department warned Friday that it likely won’t be able to meet that deadline because it received too few doses from the federal government.
The guidelines state that patients should receive their second dose of vaccine four weeks after the first to ensure the best protection.
New York – which is at the epicenter of the outbreak – has switched lanes to get as many patients as possible the first dose. It also releases the 1,000 cans it originally held back for second shots.
dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tried to allay fears of a vaccine shortage STAT messages that New York City was among those to receive further shipments.
dr Peter Marks, director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said it’s “not recommended” to delay the second dose.
dr Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), tried to allay fears by saying more doses should be shipped to New York City shortly. dr Peter Marks of the Food and Drug Administration said extending the dosing duration is not recommended
America is currently rolling out the Jynneous vaccine, which will be given as a two-dose course, with the second shot given four weeks after the first.
But several countries – including the UK and Canada – have already expanded this group as they prioritize the first dose in the arms.
The tweaking of dosing schedules is reminiscent of the Covid pandemic, where many countries — but not the US — widened the gap between doses to reach more people faster.
No studies have been conducted on the efficacy of Jynneous vaccine over longer dose intervals.
However, the manufacturers point to study results showing that it is as effective as ACAM2000 – the other monkeypox vaccine – from two weeks after the first dose to show that a longer dosing interval may be possible.
dr Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, expressed no concern about increasing the time between doses when asked by DailyMail.com.
“There is nothing magical about the dosing interval, and individuals can be caught up when the supply is more plentiful,” he said.
“The priority is to achieve some level of immunity among those most at risk of exposure.”
New York City on June 23 began rolling out the monkeypox vaccine to gay or bisexual men who have multiple sex partners every two weeks.
The first recipients will be eligible for their second injection in just three days.
The city revealed the delay on Friday, saying, “Given the rapid increase in cases, the Department of Health has decided that until we receive an adequate supply of vaccine, providing first doses to protect vulnerable New Yorkers is the best strategy.”
“In many cases, this means people may not receive a second dose within the 28-day interval between doses, as indicated on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prescription label.”
They added: “Until there is an adequate supply in the city, all vaccine doses will be treated as first doses and we will not start scheduling appointments for the second dose until we have enough vaccine for it.
“The department will advise people who have received the first dose when second doses are available and how to obtain them.”
Monkeypox vaccines are in high demand in New York City, and appointments for the 9,300 doses released Friday are all booked within minutes. Washington DC, the other country rolling out the jabs, is also seeing the dates running out fast.
Statewide, more than 1,800 cases have been detected in all but seven states – Alaska, Maine, Montana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming.
In New York, the 489 cases were all found in men, with 60 percent identifying as either gay or bisexual.
However, a top expert has warned that the tropical disease has likely already spread to other groups – but has yet to be discovered.
So far, no deaths from the disease have been recorded in the United States, but young men, who make up the majority of patients, are at very low risk.
However, there are growing concerns about the risk of deaths should the disease reach pregnant women and older adults – who are at higher risk.
“The negligible mortality rate will not necessarily persist if the virus escapes its current network: mostly young, mostly healthy adult males,” wrote Donall McNeil, a journalist who has sounded the alarm about Covid, Zika and other virus outbreaks Common sense.
“In Africa, children and pregnant women are most likely to die from monkeypox,” he added.
dr Scott Gottlieb warned Sunday that the virus has likely spread to groups other than gay or bisexual men but has yet to be detected
Walensky told STAT in an interview that anyone receiving the vaccines would need two doses to reach the “higher level of protection.”
She said, “We’re not asking New York — or anyone else — to withhold the cans right now because … we’re pretty confident that what’s coming in can cover those second cans.”
Marks also warned against postponing the second dose of the vaccine.
“We are not recommending going off the recommended schedule here,” he said during a news briefing at the Department of Health and Human Services.
“A single dose of this vaccine over time does not provide the protection needed if people continue this risky behavior.
“So the two-dose regimen is the best we can do to make sure people are actually getting the protection that the vaccine is meant to provide.”
Monkeypox may already be out of control in the United States, a former US Food and Drug Administration commissioner has warned.
In a CBS interview on Sunday, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner, that the window to address the disease has “probably closed.”
He said the national number – at 1,800 cases – is likely “only a fraction” of the real number due to poor test coverage.
And this monkeypox had probably already spread outside of gay and bisexual men, but that had yet to be discovered.
Monkeypox has now been reported in almost every state in the US except for southern Mississippi, Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota, as well as Maine and Vermont.
Of the total number, eight cases have been discovered in women and none in children and adolescents nationwide.
Speaking on CBS’ Face the Nation, Gottlieb said: “I think the window to taking control of it and containing it has probably closed. If it hasn’t closed, it’s certainly starting to close.
Speaking of the current tally, he added: “We probably only see a fraction of actual cases because we’ve had a very narrow case definition of who was tested for a long time, and broadly we’re looking at the community of men who have sex with men have, and in STD clinics.
“So we’re looking there, we’re finding cases there, but the fact is there are cases outside of that community right now.
“We don’t pick them up because we’re not looking there.”
