Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many individuals who have been identified as being at a higher risk of exposure to monkeypox have been offered vaccines as of 28 June 2022.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is unable to provide the information requested as it is commercially sensitive.

The UKHSA has purchased over 20,000 doses of the safe smallpox vaccine Imvanex. Vaccines are being offered to gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men at higher risk of exposure to monkeypox. This cohort is expected to be in the tens of thousands, with eligibility dependent on specific criteria and a clinician’s assessment of a person’s risk level. Risk criteria would include a recent history of multiple partners, participating in group sex, attending sex on premises venues or a proxy marker such as recent bacterial sexually transmitted infection within the past year. Several thousand doses have been distributed, while remaining doses are retained centrally. The UKHSA has sufficient supply to meet current needs and are working with suppliers to procure additional doses if necessary.