The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told Americans on Thursday to remain on guard during the summer festival season against mpox, the virus formerly called monkeypox that is endemic to Africa.
The CDC said vaccination rates remain lackluster and a cluster of mpox cases in Chicago in recent weeks offered a stark reminder the disease hasn’t gone away.
Global health officials were caught off-guard last year when cases of mpox showed up in Europe, the U.S. and other countries. Cases peaked at 460 per day in August before dwindling to an average of one per day, and the World Health Organization said the disease is no longer a public health emergency of international concern.
Yet 21 recent cases in Chicago sparked concerns about a resurgence, particularly among men who have sex with other men.
The “outbreak is not over and we need to remain alert and continue our prevention efforts,” Dr. Christopher R. Braden, the CDC’s mpox response incident manager, said.
Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the White House national mpox response deputy coordinator, said the administration will work with local partners to help people “get summer-ready” against mpox and avail themselves of vaccines and testing, while making “informed decisions about their sex lives.”
Monkeypox is rarely fatal but it features a painful rash and was tied to over a dozen deaths in the U.S. last year, notably in persons with underlying conditions.
Last year’s outbreak sparked a scramble to warn, vaccinate and treat vulnerable populations even as the Biden administration and state officials grappled with remnants of the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation also prompted a debate about how to protect gay populations without creating a stigma around the disease.
Like in 2022, this year’s outreach will focus in part on large gay pride events that occur in the summer in cities across America.
The U.S. is using the Jynneos vaccine against mpox, which requires two shots to confer maximum protection. The CDC pointed to a series of studies that found vaccinated persons were far less likely than a non-vaccinated person to get a symptomatic case of mpox.
“Vaccine effectiveness estimates from these studies ranged from 36% to 75% for one dose and 66% to 86% for two doses of Jynneos vaccine,” Dr. Braden said. “What we take away from these three studies is that the vaccine effectiveness is substantial and that two doses are definitely better than one,”
CDC officials said they are worried because only around a quarter of the 1.7 million persons who are considered vulnerable to mpox have been fully vaccinated.
Complicating that message, however, is the fact that many of the Chicago cases involved persons who received one or two doses of the vaccine.
CDC officials said all of the Chicago cases involve very mild symptoms and no one has been hospitalized, so the vaccines might have had an impact in preventing worse outcomes. However, they are investigating why a large share of the persons had symptoms at all, including whether the antibodies offered by the shots wane over time and boosters or other strategies are needed.
Dr. Braden said it is also possible the virus has changed over time to overcome the immunity that existed in the Chicago cluster, or if the impact persons received shots from flawed lots of the vaccine.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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