WHO stresses monkeypox vaccine takes weeks to immunize

Vaccines against monkeypox take a few weeks to develop an immune response in the body , stressed Rosamund Lewis, an expert on this disease from the World Health Organization (WHO), who insisted that a mass vaccination of monkeypox is ruled out for now. populations.

“For now we recommend vaccination only to those who may be exposed to cases,” said the director of the WHO response to this disease, who cited among possible candidates to be vaccinated family, friends and sexual contacts of people in whom the disease has been confirmed, as well as health workers.

Lewis indicated that the recommended vaccines for this disease are currently three: the MVA-BN (manufactured in Denmark), the Japanese LC16 and the American ACAM2000, initially developed against conventional smallpox, a more serious disease but which was eradicated in the planet more than 40 years ago.

The expert assured that the current outbreak, declared an international emergency on July 23, “can be stopped with appropriate strategies aimed at certain groups”, without this entailing stigma and discrimination.

About 98% of cases have so far been detected in men who have sex with other men, recalled Lewis, who also cited that cases have been detected in almost a dozen children (less than 0.06% of the 16 thousand total confirmed cases in the current outbreak).

The person in charge of the WHO indicated that there are discussions within the organization for a possible change of name of the disease, since the current one erroneously points to primates as its origin, when studies indicate that it actually went from the animal world to the human through rodents.

The disease was named “monkeypox” when it was first detected in primates during laboratory studies in Denmark in 1958.

Lewis acknowledged, however, that the current name is already widely used among doctors and health workers, in addition to appearing on the official WHO list of diseases, so the modification would require a complex process.