WHO says it’s not urgent to get a mass monkeypox vaccine

This is because measures such as good hygiene and safe sex practices help control the spread of the disease monkey poxa senior official of the World Health Organization said.

In an interview with Reuters news agency, Richard Pebody, head of the High Threat Pathogens Group at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, confirmed that existing supplies of vaccines and antiviral drugs are still available. relatively limited.

Pebody’s comments came as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the agency was in the process of distributing several doses of the Jynneos vaccine to be administered to cases of monkeypox.

Public health authorities in Europe and North America are investigating more than 100 suspected or confirmed cases of infection. monkey smallpox virus During the worst outbreak outside of Africa, the area was endemic.

Electron microscope image of monkeypox virus. (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

The key measures to control monkeypox outbreaks are contact tracing and isolation, the WHO official noted, noting that this is not a virus that spreads very easily and so far it has not caused one. serious illness. Meanwhile, vaccines to prevent monkeypox can cause side effects.

“We’re not in a situation where we’re going to have to move to mass vaccination in the community,” said Mr. Pebody.

Although more and more countries are reporting cases of monkeypox, the disease is less likely to become a pandemic like COVID-19.

What has been causing the explosion in monkeypox cases in many countries around the world has not been determined. Scientists are now trying to understand the source of the cases and whether the monkeypox virus has mutated. However, there is no evidence that the virus has mutated, a senior WHO executive said.

Most but not all of those diagnosed during the current monkeypox outbreak are men who have sex with men, even bisexuals.

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