Troup County not expected to receive Monkeypox vaccines yet

Published 10:00 pm Tuesday, July 26, 2022

Troup County is not expected to receive Monkeypox vaccines yet due to a shortage of available vaccines.

According to the CDC, there are two vaccines licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) available for preventing Monkeypox infection – JYNNEOS (also known as Imvamune or Imvanex) and ACAM2000. In the United States, there is currently a limited supply of JYNNEOS, although more is expected in coming weeks and months. However, there is an ample supply of ACAM 2000.

According to the CDC, there is no data available yet on the effectiveness of these vaccines in the current outbreak.

Morgan Redding with the Troup County Department of Public Health said Tuesday that Troup County will not receive the vaccines yet due to there not being a known outbreak in the area.

Natalie Shelton with the Georgia Department of Public Health said vaccines will be concentrated on larger, more populated areas.

“As it stands now, because of the limited supply of vaccines the state has received, it is still distributing the bulk of the doses to the five metro-Atlanta counties [Fulton, DeKalb, Gwinnett, Cobb and Clayton counties] where the cases are concentrated,” Shelton said. “If a Monkeypox case is confirmed outside the five-county area in metro Atlanta, the state will send doses of the vaccine to that county to administer to those individuals 18 and older who have had close, sustained physical contact with a confirmed case. This process may change as the state receives more doses.”

Shelton said Tuesday Georgia has received around 6,000 doses of the JYNNEOS two-dose vaccine series — enough to treat 3,000 individuals.

“The Georgia Department of Public Health anticipates receiving thousands more doses in the coming days, but due to the small amount, the Department of Health is currently distributing its limited supply to the five metro Atlanta counties where Monkeypox cases are concentrated,” Shelton said. “Vaccine clinics in those counties do not have a residency requirement, but appointments are required.”

According to the CDC, the initial symptoms of Monkeypox include fever, malaise, headache, weakness, swollen lymph nodes in areas like the neck and armpits and raised, rash-like bumps on the infected person’s body.

Monkeypox has been known to spread through sexual contact, specifically with men who have had sexual contact with other men. However, the virus can still be spread between contact with an infected person through touching, kissing, hugging and sharing one’s clothes or laundry.

As of Tuesday, there were 3,487 confirmed cases of Monkeypox in the United States, 268 of which were in Georgia, according to the CDC.

Visit https://www.cdc.gov/poxvirus/monkeypox/clinicians/clinical-recognition.html for more information about Monkeypox.