After the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that mpox is once again a public health emergency of international concern, the Ministry of Health is negotiating the purchase of the vaccine to combat the virus. In total, the ministry is seeking to acquire 25,000 doses from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
The announcement was made by the Secretary of Health and Environmental Surveillance (SVSA), Ethel Maciel, during the reopening event of the Health Emergency Operations Center (COE), last Thursday (15). “At this moment, we are negotiating a purchase process with PAHO. So that, in addition to those people we have already vaccinated, we have a reserve in Brazil”, she said.
Since 2023, when the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) authorized the provisional use of the vaccine known as Jynneos or Imvanex, produced by the pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic, around 47 thousand doses have been received and more than 29 thousand have been applied.
According to Clarissa Damaso, head of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Viruses at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), there was low adherence to the vaccination campaign against mpox in 2023. The virologist is one of the 16 members of the WHO committee that assessed the emergence of the mpox outbreak.
“Perhaps because vaccines only started to be administered at the beginning of 2023 and the peak of the outbreak was in August and September 2022. Perhaps many people had already thought ‘oh, the mpox is already over’,” she speculates. She points out that, at the time, the vaccine took a long time to be implemented as a strategy to combat the disease because there was a production limit by manufacturers and a lot of demand around the world.
Who can get the mpox vaccine?
“(Mass) vaccination is not justified, because it is not a disease that is affecting or threatening the entire world,” explains Clarissa. She also emphasizes that the disease affects specific groups and the vaccine is expensive and not widely available. “It is an expensive vaccine because it is manufactured in small quantities. So, there is no need (for mass vaccination), I think the population can rest assured,” she says.
In Brazil, the situation is considered level 1, the least alarming. There are no records of cases of the new variant of the mpox virus that is spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is considered more lethal.
In this scenario, the Jynneos vaccine must be administered in two doses, with an interval of four weeks between them, and only in the following cases:
- Pre-exposure: people between 18 and 49 years old who are living with HIV/AIDS and professionals who work directly in contact with the virus in laboratories. If there is a vaccine available in the network, immunization may also be indicated for individuals undergoing HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). In these cases, the recommendation is that the vaccine be administered 30 days after any previously administered vaccine.
- Post-exposure: People over 18 years of age who have been exposed to the MPOX virus through direct or indirect contact with fluids and secretions from an infected person, which can occur: by touching the skin or mucous membranes; through sexual intercourse; by inhaling droplets in closed environments where people live together; by sharing objects, especially sharp objects. In these cases, the recommendation is that the vaccine be administered within four days after exposure. Only in exceptional circumstances can immunization be administered within 14 days, but with reduced effectiveness.
Emergency Operations Center
In addition to purchasing the vaccines, the Ministry of Health also reactivated the COE, a center responsible for coordinating actions to prevent and control mpox at the federal level. It was activated in July 2022, after the WHO declared a public health emergency that year. Operations were terminated after the entity declared the end of the emergency situation in 2023, and will now be resumed.
According to the ministry, after the 2022 outbreak of mpox, there are 27 national reference laboratories carrying out diagnostic tests for the disease. “Currently, the entire country is supplied with supplies for this testing,” it said in a statement.
Source: CNN Brasil
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