The Murphy administration is pushing the White House for a bigger portion of the country’s monkeypox vaccines, as the number of cases here continues to rise. There are 109 probable and confirmed infections as of Thursday afternoon in New Jersey. In a letter to federal officials this week, Gov. Phil Murphy and top state health officials said New Jersey isn’t getting its fair share. They cited the state’s large LGBTQ population, disparities between the population size and vaccine allocation, and proximity to New York, which is currently the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S.
The state health department expects to receive nearly 2,700 additional vaccine doses this week, on top of 2,800 doses that were already sent. Their request may be met now that the Food and Drug Administration late Wednesday cleared roughly 800,000 additional vaccine doses for use, though it’s still unclear if that number will be enough to meet demand.
The U.S has among the highest number of monkeypox cases in the world.
