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The U.S. will offer nearly 300,000 doses of monkeypox vaccine in the coming weeks

Published June 28, 2022 at 6:55 PM EDT

FILE - This 2003 electron microscope image made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows mature, oval-shaped monkeypox virions, left, and spherical immature virions, right, obtained from a sample of human skin associated with the 2003 prairie dog outbreak. U.S. health officials are expanding the group of people recommended to get vaccinated against the monkeypox virus. They also say they are providing more monkeypox vaccine, working to expand testing, and taking other steps to try to get ahead of the outbreak. (Cynthia S. Goldsmith, Russell Regner/CDC via AP, file)

The Biden administration announced an "enhanced nationwide vaccination strategy" to curb the spread of monkeypox in the U.S.

In a call with reporters on Tuesday, top federal health officials — including director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Dr. Rochelle Walensky and Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator — laid out the administration's plan to expand the availability of a vaccine for monkeypox.

The Department of Health and Human Services will make 296,000 doses available in the coming weeks — within that amount, 56,000 doses will be made available immediately — and expects a total of 1.6 million doses to be available in the U.S. by the end of the year. The vaccine being distributed is the JYNNEOS vaccine, which is administered in two doses given 28 days apart.

There are now more than 300 confirmed cases of monkeypox in the U.S., according to the CDC.

As NPR has reported, a lack of testing for monkeypox means the outbreak is likely bigger than the case count suggests.

There have been no reported deaths from monkeypox in the U.S. during the current outbreak.

Under this new strategy, the vaccine will now be given to people with confirmed and presumed monkeypox exposure. That includes "those who had close physical contact with someone diagnosed with monkeypox, those who know their sexual partner was diagnosed with monkeypox, and men who have sex with men who have recently had multiple sex partners in a venue where there was known to be monkeypox or in an area where monkeypox is spreading," according to an HHS press release.