The first vaccine against monkeypox - MVA-BN - has passed preliminary qualification by the WHO, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a statement, UNN reports .
Details
The approval of the prequalification is expected to facilitate timely and expanded access to the vaccine in communities with acute need, reduce transmission and help contain the outbreak.
WHO's assessment for prequalification is based on information provided by the manufacturer, Bavarian Nordic A/S, and a review by the European Medicines Agency, the regulatory authority that registers the vaccine.
This first pre-qualification of a smallpox vaccine is an important step in our fight against the disease, both in the context of current outbreaks in Africa and in the future
MVA-BN vaccine can be administered to people over 18 years of age as a 2-dose injection at 4-week intervals. After preliminary cold storage, the vaccine can be stored at 2-8 °C for up to 8 weeks.
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The WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization reviewed all available evidence and recommended that MVA-BN be used in the context of a smallpox outbreak for persons at high risk of infection. Although MVA-BN is not currently licensed for persons under 18 years of age, it may be off-label in infants, children and adolescents, as well as in pregnant and immunocompromised individuals. This means that the use of the vaccine is recommended in an outbreak situation where the benefits of vaccination outweigh the potential risks.
According to research, a single dose of MVA-BN vaccine administered before infection is 76% effective in protecting people from monkeypox. In the case of two doses of the vaccine, the figure increases to 82%.
Addendum
More than 120 countries have confirmed more than 103,000 cases of monkeypox since the global outbreak began in 2022. In 2024 alone, there were 25,237 suspected and confirmed cases and 723 deaths from various outbreaks in 14 countries in the African region (based on data as of September 8, 2024).
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