Washington, Jun 29 (IANS): The White House said it will start distributing the monkeypox vaccines across the country to address the spread of the virus, focusing on people most at risk and communities with the highest numbers of cases.

The US Department of Health and Human Services will immediately send 56,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine to areas with high transmission.

An additional 240,000 doses will be distributed over the next few weeks, with even more to come this summer and fall, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the White House.

The White House on Tuesday said a combined 1.6 million additional doses would become available over the coming months.

The states with the highest numbers of monkeypox cases include California, New York, Illinois and Florida, as well as Washington D.C., according to the latest count from the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

"We are recommending that vaccines be provided to both people with known monkeypox exposures who are contacted by public health and also to those people who have been recently exposed to monkeypox," said CDC director Rochelle Walensky.

Since the first monkeypox case was confirmed in the United States on May 18, 306 cases have been reported in 28 states as of Tuesday, according to the latest CDC data.