WHO Urges More Monkeypox Vaccine Production to Stop Dangerous Strain
The World Health Organization (WHO) on August 16 called on manufacturers to increase production of monkeypox vaccines to prevent the spread of a more dangerous strain. WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris stressed the need to scale up production to make more monkeypox vaccines available.
“We really need manufacturers to scale up so we can have access to more (monkeypox) vaccines,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters, according to AFP.
WHO is calling on countries with monkeypox vaccine stockpiles to donate them to countries facing outbreaks. The two monkeypox vaccines currently in use are MVA-BN, produced by Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic, and LC16 from Japan.
World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Photo: Reuters
Harris said there are currently 500,000 doses of the MVA-BN vaccine in stock, with the ability to produce an additional 2.4 million doses if there are commitments from buyers. “LC16 is a vaccine that is not commercially available but is being produced at the request of the Japanese government. There is a significant stockpile of this vaccine,” Harris said. WHO is working with Tokyo to facilitate donations of LC16 to support countries in need.
On August 14, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the monkeypox outbreak in Africa a global health emergency. The outbreak, which involves a new strain of the virus, clade Ib, has spread to four countries in Africa that have never had the disease before, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, according to CNN.
A child with monkeypox is examined by a doctor in the Democratic Republic of Congo on July 19. Photo: Reuters
On 15 August, Sweden confirmed a case of monkeypox with the clade Ib virus, marking the first time the virus has been detected outside Africa. The clade Ib virus is currently circulating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
A child with monkeypox is treated in Lobaya, Central African Republic. Photo: Getty Images/TTXVN
Then, on 16 August, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) raised its risk alert for monkeypox cases in Europe. On the same day, Pakistan’s Ministry of Health confirmed its first monkeypox case this year. The patient was identified as coming from a Gulf country, although the specific strain of the virus is unknown.
