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Virginia expands eligibility for monkeypox vaccine

More Virginians are now eligible to receive the monkeypox vaccine, the Virginia Department of Health announced on Thursday.

The new criteria includes people who have had anonymous or multiple sexual partners in the past two weeks, sex workers, and staff at establishments where sexual activity occurs.



Anyone meeting the expanded eligibility can head to their local health district’s website to learn more about receiving a vaccine, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender.

Virginia is distributing a limited supply of the two-dose JYNNEOS vaccine. As of this week, VDH said it had received more than 15,000 vials of the vaccine from the federal government and had distributed just under 9,000 across the state’s 35 health districts.

The agency said it is managing supply of the JYNNEOS monkeypox vaccine to ensure second doses are available.

More information about monkeypox, including its symptoms, spread and treatment, can be found on the VDH website.

As of Thursday, Virginia had logged 295 cases of monkeypox with 11 that have led to hospitalization.

States seek to lower drug prices by targeting the companies that manage them for health plans

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — As consumers worry about medication costs, states are trying to lower drug prices by reining in big companies that oversee prescription coverage for health insurers. Some of those companies, called pharmacy benefit managers, also own pharmacies, and one of them, CVS, has spent millions of dollars fighting the regulations. Affordability is a key issue ahead of this year’s midterm elections. Legislators in at least a dozen states passed laws this year to limit compensation to the companies, set minimum payments from the companies to pharmacists and require the companies to disclose more information to their clients, states and the public. A Tennessee law will bar pharmacy benefit managers from operating retail pharmacies as of July 1, 2028, though CVS Health Corp. has filed a federal lawsuit to avoid having to close its 136 pharmacies there.
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