Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
FDA Weighs 'Dose Sparing' To Increase Monkeypox Vaccine Capacity
The Hill: FDA Considering Dividing Jynneos Doses Into Fifths To Increase Vaccine Supply
The Biden administration is considering splitting doses of the smallpox vaccine, which are being used to prevent monkeypox amid the current outbreak, into five smaller doses, the head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Thursday. (Choi, 8/4)
Updates on the spread of monkeypox —
The Washington Post: Monkeypox Spreads To D.C. Homeless
Monkeypox has spread to D.C.’s homeless population, with two confirmed cases, as the city launches weekly walk-up vaccination clinics in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. (Portnoy, 8/4)
Houston Chronicle: Houston To Test For Monkeypox Through Wastewater
Houston will begin monitoring its wastewater for monkeypox in late August as cases of the blister-causing contagion continue to climb, health officials said. Scientists will begin testing for the monkeypox virus in city sewage samples “starting in about three weeks,” Houston Health Department spokesperson Porfirio Villarreal said Thursday morning. (Mishanec, 8/4)
The Washington Post: As Monkeypox Strikes Gay Men, Officials Debate Warnings To Limit Partners
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention weighs whether to recommend limiting sex partners, health officials in San Francisco, Chicago, New York and other U.S. cities battling surges disproportionately sickening gay men are avoiding calls for sexual restraint, wary of further stigmatizing same-sex intimacy. (Nirappil and Jayakumar, 8/4)
Bloomberg: Most Of Africa’s Monkeypox Cases Are From Household Transmission: WHO
The rise of monkeypox cases in Africa, the only continent where the infectious disease is endemic, is coming from household transmission rather than primarily from men who have sex with men, according to the World Health Organization. (Kew, 8/4)
Also —
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Marietta Woman Goes Public With Her Fight Against Monkeypox
A Marietta mother had never heard of monkeypox until she said she went to the hospital seeking answers to why she was feeling poorly. There, Camille Seaton learned that the painful, fluid-filled lesions on her face, which also eventually spread to her body was monkeypox. (Poole, 8/4)
The New York Times: A Stranger Filmed Her On The Train. TikTok Users Decided She Had Monkeypox.
Lilly Simon, a 33-year-old in Brooklyn, does not have monkeypox. She does have neurofibromatosis type 1, a genetic condition that causes tumors to grow at her nerve endings. Those tumors were filmed surreptitiously by a TikTok user while Ms. Simon was riding the subway on a Thursday in late July during her commute. (Kircher, 8/4)
