The CDC has released recommendations for the monkeypox vaccine as the virus continues to spread.

The health agency recommends that certain people who are at risk should get the Jynneos vaccine, including:

• People who work in laboratories doing research on orthopoxviruses

• People who work in clinical laboratories performing testing to diagnose orthopoxviruses,

• certain people responding to orthopoxvirus-related public health investigations, and

• health care personnel who care for patients infected with orthopoxviruses or administer another smallpox vaccine.

Earlier this week, the CDC said it was in the process of releasing some doses of the vaccine to people who had been in contact with infected patients.

The World Health Organization says nearly 200 cases of monkeypox have been reported in more than 20 countries not usually known to have outbreaks of the unusual disease but described the epidemic as “containable.”

The World Health Organization’s top monkeypox expert said she doesn’t expect the hundreds of cases reported to date to turn into another pandemic, but acknowledged there are still many unknowns about the disease, including how exactly it’s spreading and whether the suspension of mass smallpox immunization decades ago may somehow be speeding its transmission.

WHO's Dr. Rosamund Lewis said the agency is investigating questions including whether monkeypox is spread via sex, in the air and if people without symptoms are capable of transmitting the disease. She said past outbreaks have suggested the disease does not spread easily and said there is still time to contain the current problem.

Typical symptoms of monkeypox include a rash, fever, malaise, headache and muscle aches.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have recommended the following steps in countries with known monkeypox infections:

• Close contact with sick people, including those with skin lesions or genital lesions
• Contact with dead or live wild animals such as small mammals including rodents (rats, squirrels) and non-human primates (monkeys, apes)
• Eating or preparing meat from wild game (bushmeat) or using products derived from wild animals from Africa (creams, lotions, powders)
• Contact with contaminated materials used by sick people (such as clothing, bedding, or materials used in healthcare settings) or that came into contact with infected animals.

The CDC said the risk of monkeypox to the public is low but you should avoid contact with others if you develop an unexplained skin rash.

The Biden Administration is expected to detail plans to roll out more monkeypox vaccines across the U.S.

The move comes after pressure from states, who have been pushing the Administration to release more doses of monkeypox vaccine from the Strategic National Stockpile which is managed by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services.

Related video above: LGTBQ community concerns over monkeypox stigma

The plan will allocate doses based on case rates in a state, focusing on men who have sex with men and their partners, as well as anyone who thinks they might have been recently exposed to the virus, according to two sources familiar with the government's plans who were not authorized to speak with reporters.

Currently, 10 states would be considered to be in the first tier for priority in ordering vaccines.

The plans are expected to be officially announced later Tuesday evening.

They come in the middle of Pride month, a month filled with parties celebrating gender and sexual diversity, and a season that many in public health have worried will only fuel the spread of the monkeypox virus which is spread by close contact, including sex.

The vaccination plan may require the U.S. to use two different types of vaccines.

The first is a newer, modern vaccine called Jynneos which is manufactured by a Danish company called Bavarian Nordic. It was evaluated and developed and to treat monkeypox infection. The U.S. currently has 64,000 doses of this vaccine in the stockpile. The government will make 56,000 of those doses available to states in phase one of the rollout. More doses of this vaccine have been ordered and are expected to be delivered later this year.

The problem is that the U.S. may not have enough doses of Jynneos to vaccinate all who might need it, so public health officials are also considering whether to use a second older type of vaccine called ACAM. The ACAM vaccine was developed to treat smallpox. It's given by using a two-pronged needle that's repeatedly dipped into the vaccine and used to prick the skin on the upper arm, causing a small sore or "pock" to form.

"It's a very kind of like, old-school technology that basically I don't know any clinicians that actually know how to do that. So it's actually very difficult to roll out because you have to train people in a new vaccine methodology," said Dr. Jay Varma, professor and director of the Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention and Response in New York City.

The other complication is that the ACAM vaccine uses a live, but weakened version of a virus to inoculate a person.

"It's presumed not to be safe to be able to be used in people with HIV," Varma said. The primary risk group for monkeypox — men who have sex with men — also have high rates of HIV infection.

During a call with reporters Tuesday, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, said five additional labs are in place to accelerate testing. She also urged states to make tests readily available and said additional outreach is underway to make health care workers more aware of what monkeypox looks like and how to treat it.

When it comes to vaccines, Walensky said vaccines should be provided for anyone who has been exposed to monkeypox, through both official contract tracing or for those who have been in a location or at an event where there was a case and there was potential exposure.

Vaccination after exposure is meant to reduce the risk of developing the virus, Walensky explained, and vaccination should occur within two weeks of exposure.

Hearst Television contributed to this report.

The Biden administration is declaring monkeypox a public health emergency, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced Thursday.

The action frees up federal funds and resources to combat the outbreak.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports more than 6,000 cases of monkeypox have been detected in the U.S. Montana and Wyoming are the only states without confirmed monkeypox cases.

The CDC says monkeypox can spread in various ways:

• Direct contact with monkeypox rash, scabs, or body fluids from a person with monkeypox.
• Touching objects, fabrics (clothing, bedding, or towels), and surfaces used by someone with monkeypox.
• Contact with respiratory secretions.

There is a vaccine for monkeypox, but it's in short supply. It's currently being offered to people who are infected or considered high-risk. That includes people who have had "multiple sexual partners in the past 2 weeks in an area with known monkeypox" cases.

CINCINNATI — Demand for monkeypox vaccines is far outpacing supply, creating frustration and anxiety among people in the Tri-State. But more doses will come next week, with an allocation expected in Hamilton County for the first time.

Don't expect many doses initially, though. A spokesman for the Hamilton County Health Department said it expects fewer than 100 doses next week.

That department said Friday it would establish a survey on Monday to put interested people on a waiting list for vaccines, which would be prioritized by risk factor. It will then notify them when a dose is available. The department initially did something similar with the COVID-19 vaccine. The spokesman said the survey would likely look like others in Ohio and nationwide, asking about sexual contact and partners.

Data updated on Aug. 3 showed Ohio had been allocated 17,809 doses of the JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine. Those doses are coming from the national stockpile, which is doled out by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Of that, 4,253 doses have been shipped to Ohio.

A spokesman for the Ohio Department of Health said Friday 457 doses had been given to 450 people in Ohio. The monkeypox vaccine is a two-dose regimen.

"We've spent the last two years in a global pandemic hopefully learning about public health and how best to respond to these things and what it seems is that we've not learned a lot of lessons," said Dr. Christian Gausvik, a physician with The Christ Hospital.

Dr. Gausvik said there is a growing frustration with lack of access to vaccines as cases rise. As of Friday, there were more than 7,500 cases nationally. Indiana reported 68 cases, Ohio reported 38 and Kentucky reported nine.

The Biden administration declared monkeypox a public health emergency on Thursday.

"I have a handful of patients who planned to get theirs while traveling somewhere or have planned to travel to get the vaccine," Dr. Gausvik said. "It's frustrating that that's the kind of discussion we're having."

Health departments in Northern Kentucky have been administering first doses of the vaccine, but it was unclear on Friday how many doses NKY Health had been allocated or had given out. HHS reported Kentucky's allocation of the JYNNEOS vaccine at 6,310 with 1,700 shipped to the state. Indiana has been allocated 11,985 doses with 6,752 shipped.

"We've got a couple thousand doses of vaccine sitting with the department of health that have not been used, and I think that's a real fail on the part of prevention and keeping Ohioans safe with access to this vaccine," Dr. Gausvik said.

Monkeypox is currently spreading predominantly among men who have sex with men, though Dr. Gausvik noted the virus can affect anyone. It is spread through prolonged contact and is not a sexually-transmitted disease. That focus on one community — and the bias that often is associated with it — may be impacting testing and reported case numbers.

"I think because of the limited testing ability, and I think in some part due to our bias of who this disease affects, we may not be testing widely enough to capture all the case numbers," Dr. Gausvik said.

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do you ever get used to the smell? And I guess the answer is no. The waste water comes in every day from almost two million people. But you know it's part of the job and you know so we we learn to live with it across Minneapolis ST paul and 66 suburbs. This wastewater right here. The trash of the sand has already been filtered out. Yes. You just take this much and bring it to the lab. This looks pretty clean to me. Well it's been treated but there's some stuff floating around in there. What is that? Right. We think that fibers from toilet paper is what I think Principal research scientist steve Barlow walked us through the complicated process of treating flooding, binding rinsing. I have two different wash buffers, heating, spinning. We'll just spin it for *** minute here and more to get one little drop of RNA. That's it. That's where all the RNA is. So this is what gets sent off to the you that's correct. How many viruses could you detect in our wastewater? Oh that's *** good question. I mean how many are there? We could probably detect them all. So flu flu polio monkey pox SARS Rsv In fact, steve paused our interview. Could I take one moment to get *** time sensitive monkeypox control into the freezer does it work the same way to look for Covid and to look for monkeypox. It's similar but it's not the same. Monkeypox is *** DNA virus. So we're looking for D. N. ***. But in Covid we're looking for RNA. That's correct. What do you see the potential for wastewater testing? Its enormous I don't think any of us really understood how much of *** resource waste water is the secrets this water holds. You have to dig to find them. They don't give it up easily.

How wastewater is tested for viruses such as monkeypox and COVID-19

Updated: 6:20 AM EDT Aug 20, 2022

University of Minnesota researchers started testing wastewater for monkeypox. It comes after they've checked it for coronavirus levels for more than two years now.Metro Plant Principal Research Scientist Steve Balogh studies the wastewater that comes in everyday from almost 2 million people."I don't think any of us really understood how much of a resource (testing) wastewater is," said Balogh. Learn more in the video above

University of Minnesota researchers started testing wastewater for monkeypox. It comes after they've checked it for coronavirus levels for more than two years now.

Metro Plant Principal Research Scientist Steve Balogh studies the wastewater that comes in everyday from almost 2 million people.

"I don't think any of us really understood how much of a resource (testing) wastewater is," said Balogh.

Learn more in the video above