A new study in JAMA Network Open shows that availability of the two-dose Jynneos vaccine to protect against mpox was not widespread during last summer's outbreak, with only 17.1% of the US population living within 15 minutes of a vaccination site and 50% living more than an hour away.
During the first week of August 2022, the US Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of the smallpox/mpox vaccine Jynneos (made by Bavarian Nordic) in an effort to contain a growing international outbreak. To understand distribution patterns of the vaccine, the study authors reviewed individual state government websites about vaccination sites and contacted each state's department of public health to confirm the vaccination sites.
The authors found that by Aug 5, 2022, there were 247 designated vaccination sites in the 26 states and Washington, DC. Twenty-four states distributed vaccines on a case-by-case basis.
California had the most sites (28), but only Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Washington, DC, had sites within 45 minutes of all residents.
We found that there were significant racial disparities.
White people were also more likely than Black residents to live near vaccination sites: 46.5% of White people lived within 30 minutes of the nearest vaccination site, compared with 16.3% of Black people and 24.0% of Hispanic people.
"In the 5 states with the highest number of mpox cases, Black people consistently had worse geographic access compared with White and Hispanic people," the authors wrote. "We found that there were significant racial disparities in mpox vaccine access across the US."