Federal health officials say they they have shipped a limited number of monkeypox vaccine doses to Washington.
The state Department of Health reports Washington has 15 confirmed and probable cases of monkeypox out of about 700 nationwide. It’s the most in the Northwest. Nearly all are King County residents. Oregon reports six cases, Idaho has one. California leads the nation with 136.
Officials from the Centers for Disease Control say their stockpiles of the monkeypox vaccine are limited, so they’re parsing it out in proportion to the number of cases. Washington health officials say they’ve received doses for about 400 people. They say about two-thirds of that has already been distributed to the places that need it most.
Federal officials say they’ll distribute a second round of vaccine in late July or early August.
Officials say Washington’s first monkeypox cases were reported in people who were contracted it outside the state. Now they’re seeing people who didn’t travel but were exposed here.
Public health officials say monkeypox is not easily transmitted, usually skin-to-skin contact with someone with someone who has the disease.
