CDC Says We Probably Can't Get Rid of Monkeypox Now - Gizmodo

New cases are slowing down, likely thanks to a combination of vaccination and education efforts.

According to the report, based on data collected up through September 23, the peak in reported new cases occurred in mid- to late August.

As of September 30, there have now been 25,851 reported cases of monkeypox in the U.S., while the seven-day average as of September 28 is 144 cases a day.

Preliminary data from the CDC, for instance, has found that at-risk people given the first dose of the vaccine have been 14 times less likely to catch monkeypox than those unvaccinated, though it is still too early to confirm the vaccine’s exact effectiveness during this outbreak.

“The slowing growth of the outbreak is likely due to a combination of many factors, including vaccination, behavior change, and possibly increases in infection-acquired immunity among a segment of the sexual networks at highest risk,” the authors wrote.

The report authors expect that these cases will remain concentrated among men who have sex with men (MSM), but they’re not certain about how far the monkeypox virus will ultimately spread among this group.

Conversely, monkeypox could spread widely among other groups and/or in ways outside of having sex.