Is the race for monkeypox vaccine, a repeat of Covid?

A man waits to receive a dose of the Monkeypox vaccine at the Edison municipal vaccination centre in Paris. Pic/AFP

Moves by rich countries to buy large quantities of monkeypox vaccine, while declining to share doses with Africa, could leave millions of people unprotected against a more dangerous version of the disease and risk continued spillovers of the virus into humans, public health officials are warning.

"The mistakes we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic are already being repeated," said Dr Boghuma Kabisen Titanji, an assistant professor of medicine at Emory University. While rich countries have ordered millions of vaccines to stop monkeypox within their borders, none have announced plans to share doses with Africa, where a more lethal form of monkeypox is spreading than in the West.

To date, there have been more than 21,000 monkeypox cases reported in nearly 80 countries since May, with about 75 suspected deaths in Africa, mostly in Nigeria and Congo. On Friday, Brazil and Spain reported deaths linked to monkeypox, the first reported outside Africa. "The African countries dealing with monkeypox outbreaks for decades have been relegated to a footnote in conversations about the global response," Titanji said.

Also Read: Monkeypox spread leading to queer stigma?

Scientists say that unlike campaigns to stop Covid-19, mass vaccination against monkeypox won't be necessary. They think targeted use of the available doses, along with other measures, could shut down the expanding epidemics recently designated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a global emergency.

Yet while monkeypox is much harder to spread than Covid-19, experts warn that if the disease spills over into general populations - currently in Europe and North America it is circulating almost exclusively among gay and bisexual men - the need for vaccines could intensify, especially if the virus becomes entrenched in new regions. On Thursday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention called for the continent to be prioritised for vaccines, saying it was again being left behind.

1 in 5 fear getting monkeypox in US

In the US, about one in five of those surveyed are somewhat or very worried about getting monkeypox in the next three months, while 81 per cent are not too worried, reveals a new study. The study also revealed that a large majority (69 per cent) knows that monkeypox usually spreads by close contact with an infected person. However, a quarter of those surveyed (26 per cent) are not sure whether that is true or false.

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