VIDEO: Monekypox vaccines to be distributed immediately

(NBC) - The White House announced yesterday that thousands of doses of monkeypox vaccine will immediately be distributed across the country to high transmission areas.

That will be followed by hundreds of thousands more eventually reaching 1.6-million doses by the end of the fall.

The U.S. will immediately distribute nearly 300 thousand monkeypox vaccine doses.

It comes as cases of the virus surge across the nation.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said it will send 56,000 doses of the two-dose Jynneos vaccine immediately to areas with high transmission.

An additional 240,000 doses will be distributed over the next few weeks.

And officials expect to make at least 1.6 million doses available by the end of the fall.

The CDC is prioritizing initial access to the vaccine to communities with the highest number of cases.

And people who have been in close contact with someone who has diagnosed with the virus.