US officials knew they didn't have enough of key shot before monkeypox outbreak: media

LOS ANGELES - Top US health officials have known for years that the country's Strategic National Stockpile did not have enough doses of a smallpox vaccine that is now key to the monkeypox fight, according to a report of Politico.

The United States never had the money to purchase the millions of doses that experts felt were necessary, said the report, citing three former senior officials and a current official working on the monkeypox response.

"Now, that shortfall is hampering efforts to contain the growing monkeypox outbreak, one in which the Biden administration has come under fire for failing to deliver enough vaccine for the millions of people at risk," said the report.

The US Strategic National Stockpile was supposed to have about 120 million Jynneos doses, enough for 60 million people, said the officials.

Jynneos was stockpiled as an alternative to ACAM 2000, a different vaccine that is not suitable for people who are immunocompromised. Prior to 2019, the United States had just 20 million doses. In 2020, the country purchased just over 1 million doses to replenish expired vaccine, said the report.