State officials call for 600,000 to 800,000 monkeypox vaccine doses to mitigate virus

California public health officials called on the federal government this week to supply more than 500,000 doses of the monkeypox vaccine in an effort to mitigate the spread of the virus.

In a letter sent Tuesday to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, state Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly and California Department of Public Health Director Dr. Tomas Aragon expressed a need for at least 600,000 to 800,000 doses of the two-dose Jynneos vaccine for monkeypox and smallpox, which is developed by the Danish biotechnology company Bavarian Nordic.