The Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency use authorization allowing healthcare providers to use an alternative dosing regimen of the JYNNEOS vaccine for individuals 18 years of age and older who have been determined to be at high risk of monkeypox infection.
The following guidance has been communicated to healthcare providers and is effective immediately in Louisiana.
State Health Officer Dr. Joseph Kanter said,
“We welcome today’s decision from the FDA. This alternative dosing regimen has been shown in prior studies to be safe and elicit an equivalent antibody response. Importantly, it will significantly increase the number of at-risk individuals who can now benefit from protection against monkeypox. This is a potential game changer for our monkeypox response, especially ahead of upcoming large events in Louisiana.”
The decision was made independently by the FDA after science based evidence concluded that a fifth of the dose, when given intradermally on the same two-dose schedule as currently administered, produced a similar immune response to the current vaccination approach. This measure will increase the total number of doses available for use by up to five-fold.
There are three groups of individuals currently eligible for monkeypox vaccine:
- Individuals with known exposures to monkeypox patients;
- Gay, bisexual, and other (cis or trans) men who have sex with men OR transgender women and nonbinary persons assigned male at birth who have sex with men, AND
- Have had intimate or sexual contact with multiple or anonymous partners in the last 14 days, OR
- Have had intimate or sexual contact with other men in a social or sexual venue in the last 14 days; and
- Individuals (of any sex/gender identity) who have given or received money or other goods/services in exchange for sex in the last 14 days.
Anyone can contract monkeypox and the current eligibility criteria listed above pertains to individuals who are most at risk based on the first diagnoses the Louisiana Health Department has seen so far.
For more information on eligibility criteria and a list of vaccine locations in Louisiana, please visit the LDH webpage or call 211.
Click here to learn more about the mokeypox vaccine regimen from a national perspective.
