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The EU Infectious Diseases Agency (ECDC) is expected to make a recommendation to Member States to prepare strategies for possible vaccination programs to address the growing incidence of smallpox of monkeysamid signs of disease transmission to the community.
According to a post by Financial Timesthe European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), has announced that it will set up a risk assessment report to be published on Monday.
Any vaccination plan will use the existing smallpox vaccine, as there is no approved monkeypox vaccine. Measles immunity has been shown to provide protection against aphids. The smallpox was declared extinct in 1980, but vaccine stocks were maintained to protect against a possible relapse.
The ECDC noted that -at this stage- it was not an “easy decision” to recommend smallpox vaccination to close contacts of people infected with monkeypox. He added that a risk-benefit analysis should be performed for each affected person.
The vaccine, available in the EU from the Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic’s Imvanex, is not approved for use in monkeypox and there are no safety data for its use in immunosuppressed people or young children who are at higher risk of the disease. , the ECDC reported.
According to the FT publication, Smallpox is a viral disease and most cases so far, though not all, have been observed in men who have had homosexual sex.
Source: News Beast
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