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US rushes to buy 13 million doses of monkeypox vaccines as possible case detected in New York



US officials are rushing to buy 13 million doses of monkeypox vaccines after the first case of the rare infection was confirmed on US soil and a new possible case has been detected in New York.

The US government has placed an $119m order with Bavarian Nordic for the Jynneos vaccine, which can be used for both the monkeypox virus and smallpox, the biotech company revealed.

A further $180m is also poised to buy even more vaccines if or when it is needed, altogether enabling the country to get 13 million doses into the arms of the American people.

The move comes as the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene confirmed it is investigating a possible monkeypox case in the Big Apple.

The patient, who is showing symptoms of the virus, is being treated at Bellevue Hospital in the heart of Manhattan.

Health officials said the individual is being cared for in isolation while they are currently awaiting test results to confirm the potential case.

Contact tracing is already underway to track down anyone who may have come into close contact with the patients as health officials are desperate to avoid a repeat of the Covid-19 crisis which crippled the city’s healthcare system.

In the early days of the pandemic in spring 2020, New York City rapidly became the global virus epicenter, with 815 lives lost in a single deadliest day in April of that year.

Hospitals were on the brink of collapse as healthcare workers were overwhelmed with sick patients and bodies piled up in refrigerated trucks across the city.

While monkeypox is less contagious than Covid-19 and a vaccine is already available, the World Health Organization has started holding daily emergency meetings with cases spreading across the globe.

In the US, officials are now investigating at least six possible cases.

It is not clear if the New York patient is included in the six.

This comes after a Massachusetts man became the first confirmed case on US soil earlier this week.



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