WHO issues first approval for "M-pox" vaccine

Follow-up - INA

The World Health Organization announced today, Friday, that it has granted the first license to use a vaccine against "monkeypox" called "M-pox" for adults.

“This initial authorization of the monkeypox vaccine is an important step in our fight against the disease, both in the context of the current outbreak in Africa and in the future,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

 The head of the UN health agency called for “an urgent increase in procurement, donations and roll-out to get the vaccine to where it is needed most, alongside other response measures.”
The initial authorization of the vaccine, “produced by Bavarian Nordic, allows donors, such as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi) and UNICEF, to purchase it. However, supplies are limited as there is only one manufacturer producing it.”
Under the WHO authorization, “the vaccine can be given to people aged 18 years and older as a two-dose regimen.”.

According to the authorization, “the vaccine is not currently approved for use in people under 18 years of age. However, it may be used in infants, children and adolescents in outbreak situations where the benefits of vaccination outweigh the potential risks.”

Officials at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said last month that “nearly 70% of cases in Congo, the country hardest hit by monkeypox, are in children under 15, who also account for 85% of deaths.”

Africa Centres for Disease Control confirmed on Thursday that “107 new deaths and 3,160 new cases were recorded in the past week, just one week after it was launched, prompting the World Health Organization to launch a continental response plan.”
Monkeypox is a viral disease that causes flu-like symptoms, with skin sores on the face, hands, chest and genitals, and is most commonly transmitted among gay men.

It is worth noting that “the Russian Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection (Rospotrebnadzor) announced earlier that the Russian Vector Research Center has a vaccine to prevent monkeypox.”
Alexander Gintsburg, Director General of the Russian Gamaleya Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology, announced that “pre-clinical tests of the monkeypox vaccine developed by the center’s experts will take 3-5 months.”