Biden Admin to Spend $11 Million on Monkeypox Vaccine Production

Test tubes labeled "Monkeypox virus positive and negative" are seen in this illustration taken on May 23, 2022. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters

The Biden administration announced on Monday it will provide about $11 million to support the production of the Jynneos smallpox vaccine that is being used against monkeypox in the ongoing outbreak.

The funds will support the manufacturing of the vaccines at Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing (GRAM) in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced.

The vaccines are made by Denmark-based biotech group Bavarian Nordic.

The announcement comes after Bavarian Nordic and GRAM previously announced on Aug. 18 that they agreed to establish the first U.S.-based fill-and-finish capability for the Jynneos vaccine. The term “fill-and-finish” refers to filling the syringes, and labeling, packaging, and inspecting the vaccines.

The agreement was facilitated by the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). BARDA in July placed orders to fill, finish, and deliver 5 million vials of Jynneos from U.S. government-owned bulk vaccine stored in Denmark, the HHS noted.

“In that contract, Bavarian Nordic agreed to complete a technology transfer that would allow a U.S.-based contract manufacturer to fill and finish 2.5 million vials of JYNNEOS,” the department said.

According to the HHS, the $11 million funding will allow GRAM to “purchase additional equipment necessary for JYNNEOS production and recruit and train additional staff to operate the line.”

“With BARDA’s support, vaccine production at the facility is expected to be underway later this year, months ahead of the 9-month schedule typical for this type of work.”

Bob Fenton, the White House monkeypox response coordinator, said on Aug. 26 that the deal is “an important step in building our domestic capacity and in providing domestic jobs.”

HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said the agreement “solidifies a domestic manufacturing capability that will bring us more vaccine sooner to end this outbreak.”

Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said in a White House briefing on Aug. 26 that certain jurisdictions such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco “are starting to report that they’re starting to see a downward trend” in cases of monkeypox.

“That said, I also want to say that week-over-week, our numbers are still increasing. The rate of rise is lower, but we are still seeing increases. And we are, of course, a very diverse country, and things are not even across the country,” she said.

The United States has logged over 18,100 cases of confirmed monkeypox or orthopoxvirus cases as of Aug. 30.

The White House in early August declared a state of emergency over monkeypox. It came after New York, California, and Illinois each declared states of emergency over the monkeypox outbreak in late July, similar to the city governments of New York City and San Francisco.

So far this year, there have been more than 35,000 cases of monkeypox in more than 90 countries and 12 deaths, as of Aug. 17.