Call for authorities not to make same error as last mpox outbreak
Monkeypox Against New A Formerly At As Looking The Mpox, Hse Is Vaccine Known Campaign Now
Authorities are being urged by campaigners not to repeat the same mistakes globally as during the last mpox outbreak as European health bodies warn more cases in the region are "highly likely".
The HSE is now looking at a new vaccine campaign against mpox, formerly known as monkeypox.
So far there have been six cases in Ireland this year but none of the variant spreading rapidly elsewhere.
The European Centre for Disease Control has raised its alert level and asked EU countries to issue travel advice for people going to areas already affected by the virus.
This follows Sweden finding a case there, and the WHO declaring a global public health emergency.
Cases are rising in 16 countries including the worst-affected, the Democratic Republic of Congo.
It had reported 15,664 cases and 537 deaths by Thursday.
Adam Shanley, MPOWER programme Manager with HIV Ireland, said that during the largescale outbreak in 2022 some countries faced problems accessing vaccines.
This included countries in Africa.
“Diagnostics, vaccines and treatment were not available in the global South,” he warned.
Over 11,000 doses of vaccines were given to around 5,000 people in Ireland then.
This was seen as effective, a HSE spokesman said, with just six cases here now compared to 227 in 2022.
“The programme had been paused pending a decision on a different approach to vaccination,” he said.
He added due to the emergence of a new variant, Clade 1b, and the WHO’s decision, “the HSE will consider the need for a new vaccine programme now.”
He added no cases of Clade 1b have been identified here.
“Ireland has sufficient supplies of mpox vaccine through the EU HERA Joint Procurement Action to meet any likely needs over the coming months,” he said.
He added the current risk is low here.
"The risk for gbMSM (gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men) is related to a different type of mpox to that which is causing concern in Africa," he said.
Virologist Cheryl Walter at the University of Hull said Clade 1 has a fatality rate of 3% to 4% and many of those who succumb are children, she wrote in the Irish Examiner.
- See the HIV Ireland website for advice on treatment.