An 18-member panel has recommended that adults at risk of contracting mpox should be vaccinated as a precaution.
The Centers for Disease and Control still needs to decide whether or not the agency will accept the recommendation, but if it does, adults over the age of 18 would be advised to get vaccinated.
"The recent outbreak has highlighted again the risks that infectious diseases can present to our communities, the importance of a robust public health response at the state and local level, the value of engaged partners and communities in responding to public health threats and the impact that a vaccine can have in helping bring an outbreak under control," Dr. Melinda Wharton, the CDC associate director for vaccine policy, told CNN.
The vote comes after an mpox outbreak swept the U.S. in the summer of 2022 and popped up in other countries where no cases had been reported for decades.
The Jynneos mpox vaccine, which is a two-dose treatment, has an efficacy rate of 83 percent and was approved for emergency use in August when nearly 450 new cases were being reported daily. The highest reported cases were among sexually active gay and bisexual men.
While the amount of daily reported cases has dwindled drastically since the previous summer — down to just two per day — it is still higher than what the U.S. reported in recent years.
"We do not think that this outbreak is over, and that's very important to keep in mind," Dr. Agam Rao, medical officer in the CDC's Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, said.
