States grapple with rising demand for monkeypox vaccines

Judy Woodruff:

The FDA has announced nearly 800,000 more doses of a vaccine for monkeypox could be available by the end of the month. It comes amid criticism over the Biden administration's response to this outbreak.

William Brangham has the latest.

William Brangham:

Judy, over 1,000 cases of monkeypox have been recorded in more than 40 states across the U.S., though experts believe that is a serious undercount of the real number.

The monkeypox virus spreads through close skin-to-skin contact. And its symptoms can include extremely painful lesions that can last for weeks. States are grappling with a rising demand for testing, treatment and for those vaccines, which have all been in short supply.

For more on this outbreak. I'm joined now by David Harvey. He's the director of the National Coalition of STD Directors.

David Harvey, great to have you on the "NewsHour."

Monkeypox is not technically an STD, but we know it is passed by sex and sex-like contact. And, thus, STD clinics are really at the forefront of this. Can you just give us a sense of what they are dealing with right now?

David Harvey, Director, National Coalition of STD Directors: Well, thank you for having me.

Our system is severely burdened by this latest outbreak. We are referring to this as a sexually associated infection. We know there's a vast undercount of cases because of slow rollout of testing and vaccines, and treatment present problems too.

But the nation's STD clinics are bearing the burden of responding to monkeypox. There is no federal funding, believe it or not, for STD clinics in America. So this latest outbreak is very burdensome on an already overstretched network of safety net providers.

William Brangham:

We know that gay men and other men who have sex with men have been the principal number of cases thus far.

Is it your sense that prevention and outreach and education campaigns have been getting out? Is the message getting out?

David Harvey:

Not well.

We're starting to see a serious ramping up of education efforts. But, unfortunately, there is some reminiscence of our experiences with COVID. It's not the same, but we do have — we have had a slow, sluggish response.

In the last two weeks, though, there has been very significant progress made by people who are working very hard on this at the White House level, at CDC and within the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

But there is no doubt that we need to be much more directly and explicitly educating those who are at highest risk for monkeypox. And that is gay men and other men who have sex with men.

William Brangham:

You mentioned that the administration has been stepping up its efforts of late, but there had been a good deal of criticism for this sluggish response, as you described it.

Is that criticism fair? Have they been slow off the mark?

David Harvey:

Some of the criticism is fair.

But, as these things go, people are viewing this through a COVID lens. That may or may not be fair. Actually, this is a different type of infection. The public health system has been strained. We know COVID revealed that. This latest infectious disease outbreak is also revealing the fact that we don't have an adequate public health system when it comes to dealing with sexually transmitted infections.

And even though monkeypox is not technically regarded as a sexually transmitted infection, it is sexually associated. And so it is this public health sector that is vastly underfunded in America that's being asked to respond, which is why we need to increase funding for this system.

William Brangham:

So the FDA announced that 800,000 additional vaccine units will be coming from overseas.

Are those vaccines effective? And will they get to the people who most need them?

David Harvey:

Well, we're hearing very good information, of course, about the effectiveness of this vaccine.

There is a lot of confusion about it, though. It does take about six weeks to develop immunity. It is a two-shot course of injections. So this is very good news, that there is additional vaccine that has been secured. But it's still probably not enough.

The administration is even ramping up further in terms of ordering additional courses of vaccine beyond the 800,000 that will be available in July.

William Brangham:

So, in addition to the shortage of vaccines, we know that there has been not enough testing and not enough treatments available.

I mean, on some level, does it feel like that this has been an inequitable response to this outbreak?

David Harvey:

Well, unfortunately, I think there has been an inequitable response.

Limited vaccines, limited testing means that, essentially, we have a rationed system around the United States. And those who have best access to social media and Web sites are learning about the availability of particularly vaccines.

So one of the problems we're facing in the U.S. is ensuring that there is equitable access to vaccines and testing. And that is going to strain our system for the coming months.

William Brangham:

All right, David Harvey, director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, thank you so much.

David Harvey:

Thank you.