White House strategy for monkeypox vaccines causing ‘chaos out in the field’
politico.comSome public health experts are criticizing the federal vaccination strategy for forcing state and local health departments to scale back their vaccine outreach when they should be ramping it up. | Mary Altaffer/AP Photo By Megan Messerly and Krista Mahr 08/24/2022 04:30 AM EDT Link CopiedThe Biden administration’s strategy for stretching scarce monkeypox shots is instead leading to fewer vaccinations and could worsen racial health disparities.The federal government last week slashed the number of vials states received in anticipation of each being able to vaccinate up to five people per vial instead of one.But health officials in half a dozen states told POLITICO that they are routinely able to extract only three or four doses per vial, meaning they were able to vaccinate fewer people last week than if the federal government had made no changes at all because of the drastically reduced allocations.These officials have had to scramble to reorganize their vaccination efforts — canceling clinics, rescheduling staff and delaying plans to expand eligibility.And,even though the federal government made more vaccines available for states to order on Monday, states warn that they still do not have enough doses to contain a rapidly spreading outbreak that has infected nearly 16,000people to date as public health experts fear the window of opportunity for stopping the virus’s spread is closing.
People enter a DC Health monkeypox vaccine clinic, Friday, Aug. 5, 2022, in Washington, D.C. | Patrick Semansky/AP Photo “The federal government has patted themselves on the back for how they’re accelerating the delivery of vaccines,” said Patrick Ashley, senior deputy director at Washington, D.C.’s Department of Health. “What they did is.
