According to preliminary statistics provided on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people who were eligible for a monkeypox vaccination but did not obtain one were approximately 14 times more likely to contract the disease than those who did (CDC).
The statistics provide a preliminary assessment of the Jynneos vaccine's performance in the real world while being incredibly constrained.
According to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, "These new results give us a degree of cautious confidence that the vaccination is performing as planned."
The figures, however, are based on information gathered from only 32 states, making it impossible to determine how much of a drop in cases is attributable to the vaccination alone and how much is attributable to behavioural changes among the individuals most at risk.
The data also includes those who only received a single dose of the vaccination. The CDC reports that just a small portion of those involved in the current outbreak have finished the advised two-dose course.
Although infections are continuing to fall week after week, there have been more than 25,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox in all 50 states.
Those who received the Jynneos vaccine showed protection from monkeypox as soon as two weeks after the initial dosage, according to health experts, Walensky added. It is still strongly advised that individuals have two doses of Jynneos spread out by 28 days since, according to her, laboratory tests suggest that immune protection is at its peak two weeks following the second dosage of the vaccine.
"Right present, we have information on the effectiveness of our vaccine following a single injection. We still don't know what occurs after a second dose or how long the protection lasts, according to Walensky.
Health officials said on Wednesday that they are widening eligibility for the Jynneos vaccine by switching to a pre-exposure prophylaxis technique in addition to the preliminary figures.
