WHO plans to distribute Monkeypox vaccines to stop the outbreak
The World Health Organization recently said that it is developing a new vaccine distribution system to prevent the spread of monkeypox in more than 30 countries outside Africa. As per a report from Times Of India, the move could lead the UN health agency to distribute rare doses of the vaccine to rich countries. WHO said that the vaccination will not be given to all but may be considered for special population groups. This includes pregnancy, children, or people with immune suppression, including HIV. However, the timings of the commencement have not yet been revealed.
As the WHO convenes an emergency committee to determine if the expanding monkeypox outbreak should be considered a global health emergency, scientists also called for a “non-discriminatory and non-stigmatizing” name.
Following the 2 previously published WHO interim guidance on #monkeypox for laboratory testing and for clinical management & infection prevention, the guidance provides the first WHO recommendations on the use of (smallpox) vaccines for monkeypox.
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WHO Director-General Tedros Adanom Gebrias said the agency was developing monkeypox vaccine initiative for fair access to vaccines and treatments, which he hoped would be ready in weeks. “WHO also added that it aims to rename the monkeypox virus. Experts around the world are in discussions to change the name of the monkeypox virus. This comes after there was a global outcry stating that the name was discriminatory and stigmatizing,” said WHO.
The development comes after a report released last week called for the reduction of “discriminatory” language used by scientists from 11 countries to identify the monkeypox virus.
