The announcement came during an informational meeting with the Department of Health and Human Services.
The administration has been criticized at times for its handling of the outbreak, with some calling for the government to declare a national emergency without delay.
Since the first U.S. case of smallpox was identified in mid-May, more than 6,600 probable or confirmed cases have been detected in the United States. Cases have been identified in all states except Montana and Wyoming.
The statement follows the World Health Organization’s announcement last month that monkeypox is a public health emergency of international concern. The WHO defines a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, as “an extraordinary event” that poses a “public health risk to other states through the international spread of disease” and “that may require a coordinated international response.”
Some cities and states, including New York City, San Francisco, California, Illinois and New York, have already declared monkeypox an emergency, freeing up funds and resources for their responses to the outbreak.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden named Robert Fenton as the White House’s national monkeypox response coordinator. Fenton, a regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency that oversees Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada, will coordinate the federal government’s response to the outbreak. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is the deputy coordinator.
The Biden administration has been widely criticized by some public health experts for not moving more quickly to address the crisis.
One of the criticisms of the administration’s response, as CNN reported earlier Thursday, was that HHS waited more than three weeks after the first confirmed case of monkeypox in the US to order bulk stocks of the monkeypox vaccine, which the government owns and stores in Denmark. , to be bottled and shipped to the US for distribution. The delay was partly due to concerns that once these vaccines were removed from bulk storage, they would lose years of shelf life.
Monkey pox can infect anyone, but most cases in the U.S. outbreak have been among men who have sex with men, including gay and bisexual men and people who identify as transgender. Experts say close contact with an infected person is required for the monkeypox virus to spread.
The CDC initially announced that monkeypox vaccines were being released from the Strategic National Stockpile and offered to “high-risk” contacts of monkeypox patients as well as healthcare workers who treat them . Since then, federal health officials have expanded vaccination efforts to focus on the broader community of men who have sex with men, the demographic group that makes up the majority of monkeypox cases in the United States .
In addition to providing vaccines, the CDC has said since June that it has made a concerted effort to do extensive education and outreach to the LGBTQ community.
Possible change in the way the vaccine is administered
Health officials are considering changing the way monkeypox vaccine doses are administered because the country is “at a critical inflection point” in the spread of the virus, the commissioner told reporters Thursday of the US Food and Drug Administration, Dr. Robert Califf.
“In recent days, it has become clear to all that given the continued spread of the virus, we are at a critical tipping point, which dictates the need for additional solutions to deal with rising infection rates” , Califf said. “The goal has always been to vaccinate as many people as possible.”
The commissioner said officials are considering allowing health care providers to use a dose-sharing method where a vial of Jynneos vaccine, previously used as one dose, will be used to administer up to five doses separate
That approach would change the way Jynneos is administered, Califf said. Instead of giving the vaccine into the fat layer under the skin, it will be given below the skin layer.
“There are some advantages to intradermal administration, including a better immune response to the vaccine,” Califf said. “It is important to note that the overall safety and efficacy profile will not be sacrificed for this approach. Please know that we have been exploring all scientifically feasible options and believe this could be a promising approach.”
This story has been updated with additional information.
CNN’s Jamie Gumbrecht and Kate Sullivan contributed to this report.