The monkeypox vaccine is manufactured in Denmark, and the United States, for example, has already bought more than a million doses of the vaccine. It is meant to be given to risk groups.
Monkeypox continues to spread. The most recent confirmed cases are from Saudi Arabia and India. Both infections have been acquired abroad, Reuters and AFP report.
The World Health Organization WHO is organizing another emergency meeting next week due to the spread of monkeypox.
At the meeting, the expert committee will assess whether the spread of monkeypox is classified as an international public health threat. If it does, the committee will make interim recommendations on how to prevent and reduce the spread of the disease.
More than 9,000 cases have now been found in more than 60 countries. So far, non-indigenous infections have been mild and no deaths have been reported.
Symptoms of monkeypox include fever, headache, muscle and back pain. Later, a blister-like rash develops, especially on the face and in the area of the hands and feet.
In Finland, cases must be reported to THL
Monkeypox is primarily transmitted from animals to humans, but can also be transmitted from one person to another. The infection can be acquired especially through direct contact with the affected person’s skin changes and through droplets in long-lasting close face-to-face contact. It is also possible, for example, through bedding and bodily secretions.
According to the WHO, the majority of infections found outside of Africa are acquired through sex between men.
Doctors and laboratories must therefore submit an infectious disease report to the Institute of Health and Welfare for suspected or confirmed cases of monkeypox. This is to improve access to information.
13 cases have been reported in Finland.
In the United States, getting vaccines is getting easier
More monkeypox vaccine is expected in the United States now that the US Food and Drug Administration has inspected the vaccine manufacturing factory in Denmark, reports the news agency AP.
The US government has purchased more than one million vaccine doses from the Danish company Bavarian Nordic. So far, it is the only company in the world that has a license for the vaccine.
The 300,000 doses previously shipped to the United States were manufactured in a previously audited third-party manufacturing facility. Vaccines are distributed in the United States to those areas where there are the most cases and people in risk groups.
The vaccine is recommended for those exposed to the virus and their contacts.
More than a thousand monkeypox infections have been reported in the country, but the actual number is estimated to be higher. They mainly come from sex between men, but health officials emphasize that anyone can get the infection.
There is also a smallpox vaccine in the United States that could be given to prevent monkeypox infections, as the monkeypox virus belongs to the same genus as the smallpox virus.
However, the vaccine in question has more side effects and is not recommended for HIV-positive people. They are part of the approximately 1.5 million at-risk American men who want to be given the monkeypox vaccine.