Opinion: Will low-dose vaccination stretch the monkeypox vaccine supply, or backfire?
The U.S. heath secretary recently declared monkeypox as a public health emergency, paving the way for emergency use authorizations of additional vaccines or vaccine regimens to fight the disease.
The same day, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf said that the U.S. government is seriously considering stretching the very limited supply of Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos vaccine — the only vaccine licensed against monkeypox in the U.S. — by changing the way it is given. Instead of giving a full dose subcutaneously (into the fat layer under the skin), a lower dose of the vaccine could be given intradermally (injecting the vaccine within the skin). The FDA may soon issue an emergency authorization for Jynneos to be administered in this way.
