The vaccine that Minister Kuipers wants to use against monkey pox is new, safe and widely available. There is really only one drawback: no one knows whether the vaccine is sufficient to keep the disease in check. That writes the Volkskrant.
After all, the vaccine, Imvanex, is intended against smallpox and has never been used before to dampen a major outbreak of monkeypox. “I do expect it to work,” emphasizes virologist Marion Koopmans. “But we haven’t gained experience with it on a large scale yet. We don’t know exactly how quickly the immunity kicks in, how long it takes between the first and second dose or how well it protects in various groups.”
On paper, the vaccine, which has been on the European market for ten years, can prevent 85 percent of monkeypox infections. In any case, the vaccine is safe: since its development it has already been administered to about 120,000 people. The vaccine is also used as a molecular ‘foundation’ for vaccines against very different diseases, such as bird flu, the corona diseases and measles. The registered side effects are headache, muscle aches, nausea and pain around the puncture site.
By: ANP
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