- Measles outbreak in Pennsylvania’s top children’s hospital has health officials concerned- as more kids than ever are unvaccinated against the deadly disease Daily Mail
- Measles in Philadelphia: Six cases confirmed The Philadelphia Inquirer
- Additional measles confirmed as doctors warn families to vaccinate children in Philly FOX 29 Philadelphia
- Measles outbreak Philadelphia: Officials announce more locations of possible exposure WPVI-TV
- Quick takes: Philadelphia measles cluster, more WEE cases in Argentina, global polio update cidrap.umn.edu
Tag Archives: unvaccinated
At least 82 children in Ohio infected with measles, more than half of whom are unvaccinated babies and toddlers
Measles is spreading among children in Ohio two months after cases were first detected. As of Thursday morning, there are at least 82 cases of measles in central Ohio, officials said, all of which are children.
Columbus Public Health first announced an investigation into the outbreak on Nov. 9 after four confirmed measles cases were linked to a child care facility in Franklin County. All of those cases were among unvaccinated children with no travel history, officials said, as Columbus Public Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts urged parents to vaccinate their children.
By the end of the month, cases were linked to several more sites, including Polaris Mall, a church and a grocery store.
The number has since spiked, and as of Thursday morning, Columbus Public Health reported at least 82 cases, including 32 hospitalizations. All of those cases are among children 17 and younger, with nearly 94% of those cases infecting infants, babies and children up to the age of 5, health data shows. No children have so far died in the outbreak.
It so far appears that all of the children impacted by the outbreak are at least partially unvaccinated, meaning they have only received one dose of the necessary two for the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, known as MMR, although four children still have an unknown vaccination status. Children are recommended to get their first dose between 12 and 15 months of age and the second between the age of 4 and 6.
Measles symptoms – usually a high fever, cough, runny nose and watery eyes – appear within a week or two after contact with the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with a rash appearing three to five days after their onset.
But “measles isn’t just a little rash,” the CDC says. “Measles can be dangerous, especially for babies and young children.”
The MMR vaccine is critical in preventing the spread of measles, as 90% of unvaccinated people exposed to the virus will become infected, Columbus health officials warned. About 1 in 5 people with measles end up hospitalized.
Ohio’s outbreak has already surpassed cases reported to the CDC in 2020 and 2021 combined and appears to make up the bulk of the nationwide cases in 2022.
Dr. Shannon Dillon, a primary care pediatrician at Riley Children’s Health in Indiana, told CBS News this week that most of the outbreaks seen in the past decade are “clustered in unvaccinated people.”
“It’s hard to say what this one is going to do at this point because it seems like it’s early on,” she said. “…Anytime that you have a cluster of unvaccinated people who tend to associate with each other there’s always the chance that it will spread pretty quickly.”
Vaccine misinformation and a lack of primary health care providers have resulted in many parents being hesitant to vaccinate their kids against viruses like measles, she said. Vaccines remain “one of the most important things” that can be done to prevent the spread of diseases.
“Things like measles caused deaths of millions of children worldwide before the vaccine was available. And these are very safe vaccines,” Dillon said. “The measles vaccine has been available since 1963 and has really had to be changed very little since that time. So we have decades’ worth of data showing how safe they are — and it’s something if you have questions about, you should feel comfortable talking to your child’s regular doctor.”
At least 82 children in Ohio infected with measles, more than half of whom are unvaccinated babies and toddlers
Measles is spreading among children in Ohio two months after cases were first detected. As of Wednesday morning, there are at least 82 cases of measles in central Ohio, officials said, all of which are children.
Columbus Public Health first announced an investigation into the outbreak on Nov. 9 after four confirmed measles cases were linked to a child care facility in Franklin County. All of those cases were among unvaccinated children with no travel history, officials said, as Columbus Public Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts urged parents to vaccinate their children.
By the end of the month, cases were linked to several more sites, including Polaris Mall, a church and a grocery store.
The number has since spiked, and as of Wednesday morning, Columbus Public Health reported at least 82 cases, including 32 hospitalizations. All of those cases are among children 17 and younger, with nearly 94% of those cases infecting infants, babies and children up to the age of 5, health data shows. No children have so far died in the outbreak.
It so far appears that all of the children impacted by the outbreak are at least partially unvaccinated, meaning they have only received one dose of the necessary two for the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, known as MMR, although four children still have an unknown vaccination status. Children are recommended to get their first dose between 12 and 15 months of age and the second between the age of 4 and 6.
Measles symptoms – usually a high fever, cough, runny nose and watery eyes – appear within a week or two after contact with the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with a rash appearing three to five days after their onset.
But “measles isn’t just a little rash,” the CDC says. “Measles can be dangerous, especially for babies and young children.”
The MMR vaccine is critical in preventing the spread of measles, as 90% of unvaccinated people exposed to the virus will become infected, Columbus health officials warned. About 1 in 5 people with measles end up hospitalized.
Ohio’s outbreak has already surpassed cases reported to the CDC in 2020 and 2021 combined and appears to make up the bulk of the nationwide cases in 2022.
More than 80 Ohio children infected in measles outbreak, most unvaccinated
More than 80 children have been infected with measles in central Ohio as an outbreak in the state continues to spread rapidly among the unvaccinated population.
The measles virus is primarily spreading around the city of Columbus and has infected at least 81 children so far, hospitalizing 29 of them, officials reported last week.
Health authorities have not reported any deaths associated with the outbreak, which began in November and started growing earlier this month into a major public health scare.
The outbreak appears to be spreading primarily among the unvaccinated. Seventy-six of the confirmed infections in Columbus were among unvaccinated children.
Physicians and local health officials have warned that misinformation and vaccine hesitancy, both of which intensified during the pandemic, have worsened the measles outbreak.
Columbus Health Commissioner Mysheika Roberts said in an interview this month the outbreak began when a small number of individuals returned from a measles-endemic area and came to the city, where the virus easily spread among unvaccinated children.
“The reason why so many of our young children have been impacted by this measles outbreak is because that’s the greatest majority of our population that’s unvaccinated,” she said.
More than two-thirds of the cases confirmed so far are among children aged 1 year old to 5 years old.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the first dose of a measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine for children aged 14 months to 15 months and a second dose at age 4 to age 6.
Measles is a disease caused by a highly contagious, airborne virus.
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More than 80 Ohio children infected in measles outbreak, most unvaccinated
More than 80 children have been infected with measles in central Ohio as an outbreak in the state continues to spread rapidly among the unvaccinated population.
The measles virus is primarily spreading around the city of Columbus and has infected at least 81 children so far, hospitalizing 29 of them, officials reported last week.
Health authorities have not reported any deaths associated with the outbreak, which began in November and started growing earlier this month into a major public health scare.
The outbreak appears to be spreading primarily among the unvaccinated. Seventy-six of the confirmed infections in Columbus were among unvaccinated children.
Physicians and local health officials have warned that misinformation and vaccine hesitancy, both of which intensified during the pandemic, have worsened the measles outbreak.
Columbus Health Commissioner Mysheika Roberts said in an interview this month the outbreak began when a small number of individuals returned from a measles-endemic area and came to the city, where the virus easily spread among unvaccinated children.
“The reason why so many of our young children have been impacted by this measles outbreak is because that’s the greatest majority of our population that’s unvaccinated,” she said.
More than two-thirds of the cases confirmed so far are among children aged 1 year old to 5 years old.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the first dose of a measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine for children aged 14 months to 15 months and a second dose at age 4 to age 6.
Measles is a disease caused by a highly contagious, airborne virus.
North Carolina family of unvaccinated 14-year-old search for a medical center for kidney transplant
A North Carolina family is appealing for help after their adopted 14-year-old daughter was refused a kidney transplant by Duke University hospital because she was not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Yulia Hicks was taken in by Lee and Chrissy Hicks in January 2021 from Ukraine. They knew she had a rare genetic kidney condition, Senior Loken Syndrome, which would eventually mean she required a transplant.
On November 11, however, they were told she was not eligible for Duke’s waiting list because she was not vaccinated against COVID.
‘There’s no sympathy whatsoever from any of them,’ said Chrissy Hicks.
‘It’s just strong arming us: give her the vaccine, and you’ll get the transplant.’
She said they had contacted a lawyer, but ‘can’t have her life hanging in the balance with litigation’ – and were seeking an alternative medical center.
The Hickses said Yulia had been infected previously, yet the hospital said that was not sufficient, and CDC guidelines require vaccinations for transplant patients.
‘They said the CDC recommendation had been updated at the end of October, and they had to go by the recommendation, and if she didn’t get the vaccine she wouldn’t be getting a transplant at Duke,’ said Chrissy Hicks, speaking to Tucker Carlson on Friday night.
Chrissy Hicks, mother of 14-year-old Yulia, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show on Friday night to appeal for help
‘We’ve been dealing with these doctors from Duke for at least two years, because our dialysis goes through Duke as well,’ she explained.
‘We do it at home for Yulia.
‘But the two doctors who denied us because of the COVID vaccine, we saw them for an eight-hour workup, and that’s when they told us it was going to be required.
‘Then we kind of pushed back a little bit.
‘They put her in front of the committee on November 10th.
‘She was rejected solely because of the vaccine that’s when we decided to do a conference call and get actual evidence of them telling us this.’
Carlson called the hospital’s decision ‘obviously unreasonable and viciously cruel.’
Chrissy Hicks recorded the phone call, in which the hospital explained why Yulia was being denied the transplant.
‘I can’t require you to do anything,’ a woman says. ‘I can recommend these things.
‘But if you don’t follow our recommendations then Yulia can’t be a transplant candidate here.
‘Based on number five, which is persistent non-adherence to medical dialysis treatment or medical recommendations, and also based on number 10 – which is medical risk factors that make the surgery unsafe.
‘And being unvaccinated to the CDC recommended vaccinations, based on her age, is part of that.’
Yulia Hicks, left, is a 14-year-old rescued orphan from Ukraine. She has been denied a life-saving kidney transplant because her parents will not have her vaccinated
Yulia Hicks was adopted in January 2021 by Lee and Chrissy Hicks, joining their large family
When the Hickses, devout Roman Catholics who have 11 children – three of them adopted – argued that Yulia had already had COVID and so was protected, the hospital staff pushed back.
‘The virus has continued to mutate,’ a man tells them.
‘So the natural immunity is not as good as if you had natural immunity, plus vaccination.’
Chrissy Hicks told Carlson that the hospital staff were not sympathetic, and had not even expressed condolences at not being able to help Yulia.
When the Hickses, devout Roman Catholics who have 11 children – three of them adopted – argued that Yulia had already had COVID and so was protected, the hospital staff pushed back
The mother of 11 said they hoped that another medical center may agree to help Yulia
Carlson said it was ‘so evil, it’s hard to digest it.’
The North Carolina mother said they have retained a lawyer, but in the meantime are hoping ‘that a medical center will come forward and let us know they will perform the transplant without the vaccine.’
‘We have retained a lawyer. Mike Yoder is his name,’ she said.
‘We can’t have her life hanging in the balance with litigation.
‘So we’re hoping that going on your show will give us exposure that a medical center will come forward and let us know they will perform the transplant without the vaccine.
‘We would love for them to reach out to us.
‘We’ve created a website, yuliagrace.com, contact us there, if there’s medical center that will help us.
‘We’ve also created – we have 11 children in our family. We aren’t financially able to go out of state to do this. Go to giftsendgo.com.
‘We’ve had an outpouring of help already. We are so grateful for people who have stepped forward,’ she said.
‘This comes down to: this is bigger than Yulia, so many families in the situation as Yulia, and we want to help other families.
‘There’s been a line drawn in the sand.
‘If we don’t stand up now for our medical freedoms, we don’t won’t be able to stand up soon.’
Yulia’s case is not isolated.
Earlier this year, a 31-year-old Boston man, DJ Ferguson, was denied a heart transplant because he refused to be vaccinated against COVID.
Several weeks later a North Carolina man, Chad Carswell, 38, said he would rather die than be forced to get the COVID jab to receive the kidney transplant he needed.
Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, the hospital where Carswell was hoping to receive his transplant, declined to comment on his case but a spokeswoman said the hospital’s vaccine policy is meant to protect transplant patients, who are at high risk for severe illness from COVID.
Last year, both Cleveland Clinic and University of Colorado hospitals refused to perform organ transplants for recipients who hadn’t been vaccinated.
Individual centers establish their own policies, but there are some common practices. Hospitals will typically require transplant candidates to abstain from smoking, and transplant recipients generally have to go through psychosocial evaluations.
They often have to be vaccinated against hepatitis B, commit to getting annual flu shots, and show they’re immune to measles.
Measles outbreak jumps to 7 Ohio daycares, 1 school—all with unvaccinated kids
A false color image of the measles virus.
A measles outbreak in Ohio has swiftly expanded, spreading to seven childcare facilities and one school, all with unvaccinated children, according to local health officials. The outbreak highlights the risk of the highly contagious but vaccine-preventable disease mushrooming amid slipping vaccination rates.
On November 9, the health departments of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, which encompasses Columbus, announced an outbreak at one childcare facility, which had sickened four unvaccinated children. Officials reportedly expected that more cases would follow.
As of Wednesday morning, there have been 18 confirmed cases from seven childcare facilities and one school. All of the cases are in unvaccinated children, and at least 15 cases are in children under the age of 4. At least six have required hospitalization, Kelli Newman, spokesperson for Columbus Public Health, told Ars.
Health officials are now working to curb the outbreak, including conducting contact tracing at affected facilities, coordinating with local health care providers on measles awareness efforts, and reaching out to families to educate them about and encourage vaccination with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine.
“MMR vaccines are very safe and highly effective at preventing measles,” Newman told Ars in an email. “We offer walk-in MMR vaccines at Columbus Public Health Monday through Friday every week. We have not seen an uptick here on MMR vaccinations yet from what we usually do, but that is not indicative of uptake overall since we do not know what is being given by providers in the community.”
Ars has reached out to Ohio’s health department, which keeps records of vaccination rates around the state, but the numbers for the city of Columbus and Franklin County were not readily available. We will update this story if they are provided.
Risky situation
Statewide, however, vaccination rates have fallen amid the pandemic as well as dangerous anti-vaccine misinformation. In the 2019–2020 school year, 92.4 percent of kindergartners in Ohio had received MMR vaccination. But in the 2020–2021 school year, coverage fell to 89.6 percent. Public health experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say a rate of 95 percent is ideal for preventing spread. Moreover, statewide numbers can obscure pockets of extremely low vaccination rates, where vaccine-preventable diseases can readily spread.
Measles, a virus that spreads via coughing, talking, or simply being in the same room with someone, will infect an estimated 90 percent of unvaccinated people who are exposed. Once infected, symptoms generally show up seven to 14 days later, starting with a high fever that can spike above 104° F, cough, runny nose, and watery eyes. A few days after that, a telltale rash develops.
In the decade before a measles vaccine became available, the CDC estimates that the virus infected 3 to 4 million people in the US each year, killing 400 to 500, hospitalizing 48,000, and causing encephalitis (swelling of the brain) in 1,000.
Measles was declared eliminated from the US in 2000, meaning that—thanks to vaccination—it no longer spreads continuously in the country. But it has not been eradicated worldwide and thus is still brought into the country from time to time by travelers, posing a constant threat of outbreaks in any areas with low vaccination rates. If measles is brought in and continues to spread for more than 12 months, the US will lose its measles elimination status, which it nearly lost in 2019.
Editor’s Note: This post was updated to correct a typo. Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000, not 2020.
Measles outbreak erupts among unvaccinated children in Ohio daycare
Enlarge / This child, who had been ill with measles, exhibited the characteristic rash on the fourth day of its evolution. Measles can cause hearing loss, brain damage, and be fatal to young children.
Amid declining vaccination rates nationwide, an outbreak of measles has erupted this week among unvaccinated children at a childcare facility in Columbus, Ohio.
The outbreak has sickened at least four children so far, all of whom are unvaccinated with no history of travel, meaning they contracted the highly contagious virus locally, according to Columbus-area health officials. An investigation into the outbreak is ongoing. Health officials are notifying parents and tracing contacts. The childcare facility is cooperating and has temporarily closed.
Columbus CBS affiliate WBNS-TV reported that one of the four cases had been hospitalized in intensive care. Officials also told the outlet that they expect additional cases will be identified in the coming days.
Reached by email on Thursday, a representative for Columbus Public Health told Ars that all four cases are now recovering at home.
The representative did not have current or past information on vaccination rates in the area because it is not reported to the city health department. Ars reached out to the state health department for that information, but a spokesperson said the information was not readily available. We’ll update this post when they come through.
Worrying trends
But previously published data on vaccination rates statewide and nationwide show clear declines amid the pandemic. Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published an analysis finding that vaccination coverage among kindergartners declined by one percentage point between the 2019-2020 school year and 2020-2021, falling from approximately 95 percent to 94 percent.
In Ohio, the decline was sharper statewide. In the 2019-2020 school year, 92.4 percent of kindergartners had been vaccinated for measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR). But in the 2020-2021 school year, coverage fell to 89.6 percent.
Columbus Public Health Commissioner Dr. Mysheika Roberts told WBNS that she had noted a trend among local parents who declined to get their children vaccinated. “The most important thing you can do to protect against measles is to get vaccinated with the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is safe and highly effective,” Roberts said.
The outbreak, though still small and localized, fuels anxiety among public health officials over the hold antivaccine sentiments have in the country. While antivaccine views had insidiously spread for years before the pandemic, they mushroomed into the mainstream amid a flood of misinformation and politicization of public health that followed COVID-19. As Republican lawmakers lashed out against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other health measures intended to lower transmission and prevent deaths and illness, the efforts spilled over to routine vaccination.
In Ohio, for instance, Republican lawmakers introduced a sweeping antivaccine bill last year that would essentially override all vaccination requirements in the state, allowing people to decline vaccines simply by stating “reasons of conscience.” The bill, which was supported by testimony from a doctor who falsely claimed COVID-19 vaccinations cause people to become magnetic, has since stalled in committee. Still, this year, at least 25 states have considered dozens of bills to roll back childhood vaccination requirements.
Preventable
For now, vaccination rates on national and most state levels are fair, often below the target of 95 percent, but still generally strong. However, as the ongoing polio outbreak in New York has demonstrated, decent overall vaccination rates can hide pockets of dramatically under-vaccinated communities. One area of a polio-affected county in New York, for instance, has a polio vaccination rate among children under 24 months old as low as 37 percent. That same county, Rockland, also had an explosive measles outbreak in 2019.
The pockets of low vaccination could fuel continued bursts of dangerous, vaccine-preventable disease spread, chipping away at the success of mass vaccination campaigns, one of the biggest triumphs of modern public health. The spread of polio and measles is particularly concerning—they’re both highly contagious and dangerous.
Measles can spread by coughing, talking, or simply being in the same room as someone with the virus. Ninety percent of unvaccinated people who are exposed will become ill, and 1 in 5 will require hospitalization, Ohio’s Franklin County health department noted in a press release (Franklin County encompasses Columbus).
“Measles is both highly contagious and preventable,” Joe Mazzola, Franklin County health commissioner, said in the release. “It can be a severe illness, so we strongly encourage anyone who has not been vaccinated to get vaccinated to prevent further spread.”
Go to discussion…
Poliovirus that paralyzed unvaccinated NY man in July is still spreading
Aurich Lawson | Getty Images
The same strain of poliovirus that paralyzed an unvaccinated young man in New York’s Rockland County this summer is still spreading in several areas of the state as of early October, according to a wastewater surveillance study published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday.
The finding suggests that the virus continues to pose a serious threat to anyone in the area that is unvaccinated or under-vaccinated. The three counties with sustained transmission—Rockland, Orange, and Sullivan—have pockets of alarmingly low vaccination rates.
In Rockland, for instance, one county zip code has a polio vaccination rate among children under 2 years old of just 37 percent, according to state data. In Orange, a zip code has a vaccination rate of just 31 percent. County-wide vaccination rates of Rockland and Orange are 60 percent and about 59 percent, respectively.
Sullivan County hasn’t provided the state with zip code-level vaccination rate data. But in a press release from August, the county’s Public Health Director, Nancy McGraw, suggested some areas of the county have low rates similar to Rockland and Orange.
“Sullivan County has an overall 62.33 percent vaccination rate for polio, but there are some areas of the County with lower vaccination rates, and because polio can spread very easily, it’s important that everyone is vaccinated,” McGraw said at the time. “Public Health is offering a safe and proven vaccine available to children two months of age or older. We are working with the State to get vaccine to providers for adults. If adults need vaccine, we encourage then [sic] to contact their healthcare provider.”
Most adults and children in the US are vaccinated against polio. Since 2000, the country has relied on inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which is given in three doses before the age of 24 months, with a fourth shot between the ages of 4 and 6. Just the first three doses are 99 percent to 100 percent effective at preventing paralytic disease, though, and vaccination coverage rates report the percentage of 2-year-olds that have followed the recommended vaccination schedule for the first three shots.
Assessing risk
But, in pockets of low vaccination, such as those in several counties in New York, poliovirus—in this case, a revertant virus derived from an oral vaccine used abroad that transmitted among unvaccinated people—can continue spreading. In the CDC’s new study out today, health officials sifted through sewage surveillance data to see where and how extensive that spread is.
They looked for poliovirus among 1,076 samples taken from 48 sewersheds serving Rockland and 12 surrounding counties between March 9, 2022, to October 11, 2022. In all, 89 (about 8 percent) samples taken from 10 sewersheds tested positive for the poliovirus. Of the 89 samples, 82 were from counties outside of New York City, taken from sewersheds in Nassau, Orange, Rockland, and Sullivan counties. Of those 82 positive samples, 81 were genetically linked to the Rockland County patient, and one, which was from Orange county, didn’t have adequate enough genetic data to determine linkage.
The remaining seven of the 89 positive samples were from New York City, one of which was linked to the Rockland case, and five were of inadequate quality to determine linkage. Interestingly, one was of a different poliovirus that was not linked to the Rockland case, suggesting more than one strain of poliovirus was introduced to the US.
The strain of poliovirus in the Rockland case has been genetically linked to viruses spreading in London and Israel.
The fact that samples as recent as October 4, 5, and 6 tested positive for the poliovirus that has already paralyzed one person, suggests that others are still at risk in the US.
“[A]ny unvaccinated or undervaccinated adult or child living or working in Kings, Orange, Queens, Rockland, or Sullivan counties, New York should complete the IPV series now,” the authors of the study concluded.
CDC: early figures show unvaccinated at much higher risk for monkeypox
People who were eligible for a monkeypox vaccine but did not receive one were about 14 times more likely to become infected than those who were vaccinated, according to preliminary data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
While extremely limited, the figures offer an initial look at the effectiveness of the Jynneos vaccine in the real world.
“These new data provide us with a level of cautious optimism that the vaccine is working as intended,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told reporters.
But the numbers are based on data collected from just 32 states, and there’s no way to distinguish how much of a reduction in cases is due to the vaccine alone, and how much is due to behavioral changes among the most at-risk populations.
The data is also based on people who received just a single dose of the vaccine. According to the CDC, relatively few individuals in the current outbreak have completed the recommended two-dose series.
Infections continue to decline week over week, but there are currently more than 25,000 cases of monkeypox identified across all 50 states.
Health officials have seen protection from monkeypox for those vaccinated with Jynneos as early as two weeks after the first dose, Walensky said. Still, she said laboratory studies show that immune protection is highest two weeks after the second dose of vaccine, so they are continuing to strongly recommend people get two doses of Jynneos spaced out 28 days apart.
“What we have right now is data on how well our vaccine is working after a single dose. What we don’t yet have is what happens after a second dose and how durable that protection is,” Walensky said.
In addition to initial numbers, health officials on Wednesday said they are expanding eligibility for the Jynneos vaccine by moving to a pre-exposure prophylaxis strategy.
The new strategy “encourages vaccine providers to minimize the risk assessments of people seeking the vaccine. Fear of disclosing sexuality and gender identity must not be a barrier to vaccination,” said White House monkeypox adviser Demetre Daskalakis.
Daskalakis said people who might be at present or future risk are now eligible, including: gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men; transgender or gender diverse people who have had more than one sex partner in the last six months; had sex in a place associated with higher monkeypox risk, or have had a sexually transmitted infection diagnosed in the past six months.
The strategy also extends vaccines to sexual partners of people at risk and commercial sex workers, Daskalakis said.