Over 25,000 people in the UK have come forward to have the monkeypox vaccine, following an outbreak of the virus which has been predominantly in gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. Now a shortage of vaccines globally has caused a delay to the rollout.
The UK has purchased 150,000 vaccines, with the initial delivery of 50,000 all expected to be distributed to those at highest risk of exposure - including healthcare workers - by the end of August. A further 100,000 doses of the vaccine are set to be received “later in September”, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) states.
From the initial delivery of 50,000 doses, 40,000 were allocated to the NHS, with approximately 27,000 people having been vaccinated by the health service as of August 10. Around 25,325 of those were gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men, the rest were healthcare workers and contacts of monkeypox cases.
