Mpox Vaccine

The vaccine is made using weakened live vaccinia and cannot cause smallpox, mpox, or any other disease.

JYNNEOS™ is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for prevention of smallpox and mpox disease in adults 18 years or older at high risk for smallpox or mpox infection.  

JYNNEOS™ is usually administered as a series of 2 injections, 4 weeks apart. People who have received smallpox vaccine in the past might only need 1 dose.

Boosters doses are recommended every 2 or 10 years if a person remains at continued risk for exposure to smallpox, mpox, or other orthopoxviruses. Your health care providers can give you more information.

Smallpox/mpox vaccine (JYNNEOS™) may be given at the same time as other vaccines. Certain people at increased risk of a condition called myocarditis (swelling of the heart muscle), including adolescent or young adult males, might consider waiting 4 weeks after JYNNEOS™ vaccination before getting an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. 

Mpox can spread to anyone through close, personal, often skin-to-skin contact, including:

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

This direct contact can happen during intimate contact, including:

• Oral, anal, and vaginal sex or touching the genitals (penis, testicles, labia, and vagina) or anus (butthole) of a person with mpox.
• Hugging, massage, and kissing.
• Prolonged face-to-face contact.
• Touching fabrics and objects during sex that were used by a person with mpox and that have not been disinfected, such as bedding, towels, fetish gear, and sex toys.

A person with mpox can spread it to others from the time symptoms start until the rash has fully healed and a fresh layer of skin has formed. The illness typically lasts 2–4 weeks