The Biden administration will provide roughly $11 million to support the packaging of Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos monkeypox vaccine at a facility in the United States.
The Department of Health and Human Services’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority is supplying the funds to Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to acquire equipment and recruit additional staff to ramp up production of the vaccine and expedite deliveries in the U.S.
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“Rapidly increasing the supply and safe delivery of monkeypox vaccine to at-risk Americans is a top priority,” said Dawn O’Connell, the assistant secretary for preparedness and response for the HHS. “Production of Jynneos in the U.S. creates jobs and speeds the availability of this vaccine.”
Denmark-based Bavarian Nordic entered into an agreement with Grand River earlier this month to “fill and finish” manufacturing the vaccine at its Michigan facility, becoming the first U.S. site to help make the vaccine. The vaccine supplier was scrambling to keep up with demand at its Danish facility as case numbers rose globally.
The Michigan facility is expected to finish manufacturing approximately 2.5 million monkeypox vaccine vials, half of the 5 million vials the U.S. ordered in July from Bavarian Nordic. Over 1.5 million doses of the monkeypox vaccine have been distributed in the U.S.
As of last Thursday, over 46,700 cases of monkeypox have been identified globally in 98 countries, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters. In the U.S., almost 17,000 cases have been detected across all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
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Walensky said she is “cautiously optimistic” that case numbers could be slowing after several major cities reported lower case counts.
“We’re actually seeing vaccines get out, behaviors change, harm reduction messages being heard and implemented,” Walensky said.
