With the monkeypox case count in the U.S. now more than 20,000 and infections spreading to more remote outposts, the Biden administration is bolstering its vaccine and treatment distribution effort with a contract with AmerisourceBergen.
The $19.8 million deal will expand the number of weekly shipments and delivery locations of Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos vaccine and Siga’s TYPOXX, a medicine for those who have been infected.
Under the deal, AmerisourceBergen will provide up to 2,500 shipments per week of both the vaccine and the treatment. Jynneos is frozen when shipped, while TYPOXX is preserved at ambient temperature. The U.S. is shipping products to five locations per jurisdiction, the Department of Health and Human Services said.
“We’ve heard from state and local leaders about the importance of ensuring vaccines are distributed to more places, which is exactly what this contract will do,” White House national monkeypox response coordinator Bob Fenton, said in a release.
As of Sept. 2, the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) had shipped more than 800,000 vials of Jynneos and 37,000 courses of TYPOXX nationwide, the HHS said. By the end of August, more than 350,000 vaccines had been administered, according to the CDC. Jynneos and TYPOXX are provided by the government for free.
Three weeks ago, the U.S. revealed that it would provide an additional 1.8 million monkeypox vaccines on top of the 1.6 million doses it had secured in June. The same day, Bavarian Nordic said it had bolstered its capacity to produce the shot through manufacturing partner Grand River Aseptic.
On Wednesday, Bavarian Nordic also said that it will supply Europe with an additional 170,000 doses of Jynneos, which will be made available in Norway and Iceland.
Last week, the Biden administration asked Congress to pass a short-term continuing resolution that includes billions of dollars for COVID-19 and monkeypox alongside other “critical needs.”