The federal government is buying additional doses of monkeypox vaccine from a Danish company, which has its U.S. headquarters in Morrisville.
Bavarian Nordic will deliver 2.5 million doses of its vaccine beginning later this year, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
Known by the brand name JYNNEOS, it was originally developed for smallpox. The World Health Organization has said supplies of the vaccine are extremely limited. HHS says there are 65,000 doses of JYNNEOS in its Strategic National Stockpile, with another 300,000 arriving “in the coming days.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are two confirmed monkeypox cases in North Carolina and 460 nationwide. Countries including the U.K. and Germany have already begun vaccinating people at high risk of monkeypox; the U.K. recently widened its immunization program to mostly gay and bisexual men who have multiple sexual partners and are thought to be most vulnerable.
JYNNEOS was approved for use in the U.S. by the Food and Drug Administration in 2021. Earlier this year, the federal government agreed to buy 119 million freeze-dried doses to prepare for a large-scale smallpox outbreak. Bavarian Nordic manufactures the vaccine at a facility in Kvistgaard, about 25 miles north of Copenhagen.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
