WASHINGTON — As the world grapples with a monkeypox outbreak, the Biden administration has been quick to highlight the vaccines and other therapies the United States has in its national stockpile. It’s been far less open about exactly how many of those medicines it has.
Right now, the country hasn’t seen many actual cases of monkeypox — only 40 confirmed cases as of Wednesday. But as global concern grows, officials are walking a tightrope, attempting to assuage public concerns while being cautious on both negotiations about sharing medicines abroad and what they say are national security issues.
The Biden administration is planning to make available stocks of two smallpox vaccines in response to the monkeypox outbreaks. Officials released some updated numbers on each of those vaccines Monday, even though they had previously told STAT on May 27 that the government does “not share specific numbers around vaccines due to security concerns.”
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