Britain is on the brink of running out of monkeypox vaccines with less than 9,000 doses left, it is claimed.
It comes as cases of the infection are rising in the UK week on week.
As of 8 August, there are 2,914 confirmed and 103 highly probable monkeypox cases in the UK - 3,017 in total. Of these, 2,883 are in England, up from 2,730 on 4 August.
Despite the increase in the number of cases, the country’s vaccines could run out in the next two or three weeks, the Financial Times reports.
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Shipments of a new order of 100,000 doses will not resume until late September, according to an internal NHS letter in the report.
“The NHS has quickly stood up capacity to offer the monkeypox vaccine to those eligible in line with UKHSA’s guidance and while supply is currently severely limited, the NHS is expecting to receive more doses in the coming weeks,” an NHS spokesperson said.
Last week, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said that there were “early signs” that the monkeypox outbreak is plateauing across the country and its expansion has slowed.
Dr Mary Ramsay, director of Clinical Programmes at UKHSA, said: “The recent and sudden global outbreak of monkeypox has caused a huge upsurge in demand for these limited stocks around the world.”
In June, the British authorities were recommending gay and bisexual men at higher risk of exposure to monkeypox should be offered a vaccine, as the outbreak of the viral disease gathers pace mostly in Europe.
It comes as US health officials authorised a new monkeypox vaccination strategy designed to stretch limited supplies by allowing health professionals to vaccinate up to five people — instead of one — with each vial.
The highly unusual step is a stark acknowledgment that the US. currently lacks the supplies needed to vaccinate everyone seeking protection from the rapidly spreading virus.
That includes 1.6 million to 1.7 million Americans considered by federal officials to be at highest risk from the disease, primarily men with HIV or have a higher risk of contracting it.
Vaccinating that group would require about three times more full doses than the roughly 1.1 million officials have made available.
Last month, the World Health Organisation declared monkeypox as a “public health emergency of international concern”, its highest alert level. The United States also declared it a public health emergency last week.
