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SALT LAKE CITY — At least 20 doses of monkeypox vaccine are headed to Utah, and more could be on the way.
Utah is one of 32 states and jurisdictions as of Tuesday that had requested the smallpox vaccine deemed effective in treating and preventing monkeypox. The vaccine is being distributed as part of the Biden administration's response to the global outbreak of the virus that now includes five cases in Utah.
Three cases have been reported in Salt Lake County, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated Utah's case count to five on Wednesday afternoon. One of the new cases is in Utah County and the other is in Salt Lake County, according to Utah Department of Health spokeswoman Charla Haley.
The Salt Lake County Health Department is already working on a distribution plan to get the vaccine to those considered at high risk for monkeypox, currently primarily men who have sex with men, but is still waiting to hear how many doses will be available and when they'll arrive, spokesman Nicholas Rupp said.
Neither the three people confirmed to have monkeypox in Salt Lake County nor anyone they came in contact with them needs the shots, Rupp said. The two Salt Lake County men who became Utah's first cases in May after a European trip have recovered, and he said the state's third case, also a Salt Lake County resident, is doing good.
Those three infected people all agreed to voluntarily isolate, Rupp said, until they were fully healed from the effects of the virus, which often starts with a rash that turns into fluid-filled pustules that scab over before eventually falling off. Besides prolonged close contact, monkeypox can also be spread through bedding and other materials.
Haley said the CDC has agreed to send the state 20 doses of the smallpox vaccine that's being released from the nation's strategic stockpile. She said later that the federal agency, which was scheduled Wednesday to discuss future doses, was sending about 500 doses.
The White House announced plans Tuesday to provide the Jynneos vaccine nationwide to individuals at high risk to mitigate the spread of monkeypox, a disease that had largely been confined to parts of Africa until the latest outbreak.
So far, more than 9,000 doses of vaccine, along with 300 courses of antiviral smallpox treatments, have been deployed and another 296,000 doses will be allocated over the coming weeks, including 56,000 immediately, the administration said, promising a total of 1.6 million additional doses will become available.
Because smallpox was eradicated and routine vaccination ended in the United States in 1972, the vaccine has been stored by the federal government. Utah and other states that don't have a share of the nation's smallpox vaccine stockpile would have to wait up to 72 hours for doses to be transferred by the federal government.
Public health officials have said that would still be enough time to make a difference, since it is believed smallpox vaccine administered within four days of exposure to monkeypox provides protection against developing the disease, and within 14 days, may reduce its severity. There are at least 351 monkeypox cases confirmed in the United States, and more than 5,100 worldwide, according to the CDC.
