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The World Health Organization said on Friday that it has cleared Bavarian Nordic’s MVA-BN mpox (monkeypox) vaccine for containing the spread of the disease in badly hit African countries. This is the first vaccine against mpox infection to be added to the agency’s prequalification list. On Thursday, the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said 107 new deaths and 3,160 new cases had been recorded in the past week.
This first prequalification of a vaccine against mpox is an important step in our fight against the disease, both in the context of the current outbreaks in Africa, and in the future,” WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
“We now need urgent scale up in procurement, donations and rollout to ensure equitable access to vaccines where they are needed most… to prevent infections, stop transmission and save lives.” he added.
Who Can Receive the Vaccine
Under the WHO authorisation, the vaccine can be administered in people aged 18. The MVA-BN vaccine can be given to people over 18 years old as a two-dose injection, four weeks apart, said the WHO. After prior cold storage, the vaccine can be kept at 2-8 degree Celsius for up to eight weeks.
The approval says that while the vaccine is not currently licensed for those under 18 years old, it may be used in infants, children and adolescents “in outbreak settings where the benefits of vaccination outweigh the potential risks.”
The Bavarian Nordic vaccine, known as Jynneos in the United States, was originally approved as a smallpox shot.
What Prequalification Of Vaccine Means
The approval, known as a prequalification, comes as a new type of the virus spreads from the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the current outbreak began in early 2023, to several neighboring countries. DRC has recorded nearly 22,000 cases and 716 deaths linked to the virus since January, said reports.
The pre-qualification of the vaccine by Bavarian Nordic A/S means that donors like GAVI the Vaccine Alliance and UNICEF can buy it. But supplies are limited because there’s only a single manufacturer.
The WHO chief called for “urgent” scale-up of procurement, donations and rollout to get the vaccine where it is needed most, along with other response measures.
More About Mpox
Mpox, known as monkeypox, is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact. It causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions, and can in some cases be deadly.
Last month, the WHO had declared an international emergency over mpox.
Mpox belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox but causes milder symptoms like fever, chills and body aches. However, one with more serious cases can develop lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals.