The World Health Organization (WHO) said that the monkeypox virus must first be brought under control in countries where there is no endemic, and this can be achieved by acting quickly.
Monkeypox virus, a viral infection that is usually mildly avoided, is endemic in African countries, but spreading to non-endemic countries such as Europe and the USA raises concerns. So far, there are more than 200 suspected or confirmed cases in more than 20 countries where the virus has not been found before.
“We think we can easily contain the virus if we take the right precautions right now,” said Sylvie Briand, Head of the Global Infectious Disease Preparedness Team, in a briefing to member countries at the WHO’s annual meeting.
Briand emphasized that there is a window of opportunity to prevent the virus from spreading further, and stated that the transmission of the monkeypox virus is much slower than other viruses such as the Corona virus, so the public need not worry.
On the other hand, Sweden’s vaccine coordinator said that the European Union has decided to purchase a joint vaccine and antiviral medicine to combat the monkeypox virus epidemic.
According to the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, vaccine coordinator Richard Bergstrom said, “After several meetings, it was decided to purchase both the vaccine and the antiviral treatment.”
The newspaper reported that the EU will purchase the smallpox vaccine Imvanex developed by the Bavarian Nordic company and Tecovirimat from Siga Technologies in the USA.
According to Dagens Nyheter, Bergstrom said the EU has not yet signed contracts with either firm; “But this will move forward quickly. We will have a contract in a week and maybe some limited deliveries will start in June,” he said.
Imvanex is a vaccine approved in the US for the prevention of both smallpox and monkeypox. The approval of the European Union is for smallpox. However, doctors may prescribe it for off-label use against monkeypox.
The case fatality rate in the current outbreak is about 1 percent, but no casualties have been reported so far.