Most of the vaccines are stored in bulk, meaning it will take several months to get into vials, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. Bavarian Nordic’s Imvamune or MVA-BN vaccine, commonly used to treat smallpox, has been approved by Canada, the United States and the European Union.
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Two other vaccines – LC16 and ACAM-2000 – are also being considered, the WHO chief said, urging countries with stockpiles to share doses while supplies are tight. “We don’t have data yet on the effectiveness of monkeypox vaccines or how many doses might be needed,” Tedros told reporters during a mock press conference on Wednesday. Story continues below ad Monkeypox was declared a global health emergency by the WHO on Saturday. 2:01 Doctors are concerned that upcoming events could cause a spike in monkeypox cases. Globally, more than 18,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in 78 countries, with at least 70 percent in Europe. About 10 percent of patients have been hospitalized in the current outbreak and five have died, all in Africa, the WHO said. Trending Stories
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Canada has confirmed 745 cases of monkeypox as of July 26, but those numbers are expected to rise, according to Public Health Canada. However, at the moment, the UN health agency does not recommend mass vaccination, Tedros said. It recommends vaccination only for high-risk groups, including health care workers and men who have sex with men with multiple sexual partners. The WHO estimates that between five and 10 million doses of vaccine will be needed to protect all high-risk groups. Story continues below ad
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Imvammune is a two-dose vaccine. WHO experts warned that it takes several weeks after receiving the second dose of the vaccine to fully protect, so people should take other precautions until then. They also called for more research into the effectiveness of monkeypox shots. “Right now, we don’t have the data to say with confidence that a vaccine is the best approach for this,” said Dr. Soumya Swamintham, WHO chief scientist. 1:56 Hundreds of monkeypox cases reported in Canada Hundreds of monkeypox cases reported in Canada In Canada, the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) issued new guidelines last month, according to which anyone at high risk of exposure to a possible or confirmed case of monkeypox, or someone who has visited an environment where transmission of the virus is occurring, they should receive one dose of Imvammune vaccine. Story continues below ad Vaccines are offered to people who have been exposed to monkeypox as well as to high-risk groups. Appointments are made online or by phone through the public health units. To date, the Government of Canada has deployed more than 70,000 doses of Imvamune to provinces and territories. The CEO of Danish company Bavarian Nordic said it is in talks to potentially expand production capacity for its vaccine. Bavaria has an annual production capacity of 30 million doses, including the smallpox vaccine and other vaccines it produces. — with files from Reuters © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
