Once again, the United States is spoiling its approach to vaccines. Three months after the monkeypox outbreak, only 620,000 doses of the Jynneos shot – currently the best immune defense against the virus in the country – have been obtained. Shipped to countriesNot enough to immunize 1.6 million to 1.7 million Americans considered by the CDC to be most at risk. The following deliveries from the manufacturer are not specified Until September at the earliest. Right now, we’re stuck with the stocks we have.
Which is why Feeds switched to Plan B vaccination: split their doses of gins into five, and tuck it into the skin, rather than the layer of fat underneath. Food and Drug Administration Issue an emergency use permit strategy yesterday afternoon.
This dose reduction approach will allow a much larger number of people to sign up for doses before the end of the summer; If successful, it could help contain the outbreak in the United States, which currently accounts for Approximately one third of the world’s documented cases of monkeypox are. But this decision is based on scant data, and the degree of protection that intradermal shots offer is no guarantee. The FDA is now playing a high-stakes game with the health and confidence of the people most at risk of developing monkeypox — an already marginalized population. Call it a bold decision. Call it a risky gamble: it may be the best option the country currently has, but the United States could have avoided it had it mustered a stronger response earlier.
Little is known about how Jynneos performed against monkeypox even in its cases Stipulated dosing regimen, the so-called subcutaneous route; The new method, intradermal injection, is a murkier proposition to date. “We’re in a very fine data area,” says Jane Marazzo, an infectious disease physician at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
was the shot agreed For use against smallpox and monkeypox in 2019. But so far, researchers don’t have a strong sense of how well it protects against disease or infection or how long the protection lasts. Although scientists know that 2 doses of Jynneos Can Obtaining similar numbers of antibodies as the old smallpox vaccinesThere are no estimates of the true efficacy of the vaccine, from large-scale clinical trials; human study in the Congo The results have not yet been reported. And although the most consistent data show that the vaccine continues lab monkeys of getting seriously ill, “I don’t necessarily trust clinical decisions to be made” based on that, says Mark Slivka, a vaccination specialist at Oregon Health & Science University. It’s not even clear if Jynneos can prevent someone from transmitting the virus, especially now that many cases appear to be emerging via Skin-to-skin contact during sexwhich is an alternative form of diffusion.
The emergency switch to lower intradermal administration has been tested with other vaccines, including those that protect against yellow fever And the flu. The skin is full of specialized defense cells that can grab bits of vaccines and pass them on to other fighters in the immune system, “so you can use a smaller dose and get similar responses” to a full-volume dose under the skin, says Jacinda Abdel-Motakber, a pharmacist at Loma Linda University in California.
one study from 2015 points out that this reasoning should apply to Jynneos—at least among the trial participants, healthy adults who were predominantly young and white. In that group, the subcutaneous and intradermal injections were “quite similar” in triggering the antibodies in the body, which is “very encouraging,” says Catherine Edwards, a vaccinologist at Vanderbilt University who helped run the study. But this is not the same as real protection against the virus. And what happened in that single study will not necessarily happen in the real world, particularly in the context of the current outbreak, which differs from its predecessors in terms of demography and size. “I think this data needs to be confirmed,” Edwards told me. Most cases so far have been in Men who have sex with menAnd the Many of them live with HIV—A society whose immune systems do not look the same as the general population, and in from Vaccines Maybe not Take as well, or alwaysSlifka told me. However, the Food and Drug Administration has advanced”completely Based on “a 2015 study,” says Alexandra Younts, MD, a pediatric infectious disease physician at Children’s National. statementthe agency explained that it had “determined that the known and potential benefits of Jynneos outweigh the known and potential risks” of green lighting the intradermal route.
Giving vaccines into the skin leaves no room for error. The tuberculosis skin test is also performed inside the skin; Marrazzo has witnessed “dozens of those who spoiled”. People bleed or bruised. The needles are too deep–a mistake that can reduce effectiveness–or too shallow, causing fluid to ooze out of the fluid. Intradermal injection is an uncommon and difficult procedure, requiring additional training and specialized needles. “There will be some degree of error,” says Kenneth Cruz, a community health worker in New York. “People will wonder if they are protected, and it will be difficult to verify them.”
Already, health care providers are having “problems setting up vaccination clinics for subcutaneous injection,” says Bogoma Kapisin Titanji, an infectious disease physician at Emory University; Intradermal switching will exacerbate this deficiency and could increase vaccination barriers for people who do not have reliable access to health care. Intradermal injections can also come with annoying side effects, As suggested by a 2015 study, including redness and swelling at the injection site that can be “strong and severe,” Marazzo told me. People who get their first doses may not come back for more, which defeats the point.
Unites told me that splitting a dose is still a “much better way” than skipping or dangerously delaying second doses – which has already happened in cities like New York; Washington DC; And the San Francisco—Trying to conserve supplies. Even in other places it is very difficult to get second dates. “I don’t know anyone who got the second dose,” says Nick Diamond, one of the investigators. RESPND-MI, a LGBTQ-led survey of monkeypox symptoms and nets. And that’s not great: After just one injection, antibody levels “barely budge,” Yonets said, leaving people vulnerable until two weeks after the second injection is completed. (another vaccine, ACAM2000but can cause serious side effects, and is not recommended for immunocompromised people, including those with HIV).
With no other good options on the table, splitting the dose is the only way to go. “I don’t really see another viable option,” Marazzo told me. That doesn’t erase the fact that the nation squandered its chance with Vaccination Plan A: leveraging its vast resources to deploy tests, treatments, and vaccines to contain outbreaks early, and to keep subcutaneous injections contested. now with About 9,500 injuries were recorded among Americans nationwide– Fewer than specified – Close the door. Adhering to the strategy of two full subcutaneous doses for all was expected to leave us “without a vaccine by October,” Marazzo said.
However, Plan B may have real costs, reducing demand for and confidence in the vaccine. Diamond already told me, “We haven’t been able to answer questions about the level of protection, which makes it really difficult for people to make decisions about risks.” The best that Abdul Muttakbir has been able to tell her patients is that “receiving this vaccine is more likely to protect you than if you didn’t,” she said. Cruz told me that doesn’t do much to “calm fears and anxieties,” especially after more than a year of confusing and conflicting messages about coronavirus vaccination.
Joseph Osmondson, a microbiologist at New York University and an investigator for the RESPND-MI program, told me he believes the Biden administration did not properly consult with members of vulnerable communities before going ahead with the dose split. And he worries that disparities could arise if subcutaneous shots eventually outperform those intradermal shots: people with the socioeconomic privilege to find and reach appointments early will get the initial doses, while those already at higher risk ski the share. Smaller than immunity, exacerbation The injustice that the outbreak has already begun to exploit. Numbers alone can leave a bad aftertaste: “If I were standing in line to get a fifth of the vaccine,” Diamond told me, “I was wondering why my health was being evaluated less.”
Splitting the dose is a temporary solution—”not a sustainable solution,” says Luciana Borio, the former acting chief scientist at the Food and Drug Administration. An outbreak of monkeypox can span several months, or become endemic in animals. Ultimately, reinforcements may be necessary; ACAM2000 may have a larger role to play. The United States will need clinical trials to understand which dosing strategies actually work best, and who the most affected populations, especially men who have sex with men, should be involved in those decisions along the way. Abdul Muttakbir told me that officials should be “transparent about the loopholes that exist, and be intentional about working to fill those loopholes.”
However, as news of the decision to split the dose to the population continues to spread, an unintended message may already be being sent: “The government is placing the onus on members of the community to protect themselves,” Cruz said. But we are in this position because the government has failed. If the administration’s big bet on dose splitting does not pay off, for those who have so far bore the brunt of the outbreak, “it would be a nail in the coffin of any public confidence,” Osmondson said.
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