The World Health Organisation on Friday said it has granted its first authorisation for use of a vaccine against mpox in adults, calling it an important step toward fighting the disease in Africa and beyond.
The pre-qualification of the vaccine by Bavarian Nordic A/S means that donors like GAVI the Vaccine Alliance and UNICEF can buy it. But supplies are limited because there's only a single manufacturer.
The World Health Organisation on Friday said it has granted its first authorisation for use of a vaccine against mpox in adults, calling it an important step toward fighting the disease in Africa and beyond.
The pre-qualification of the vaccine by Bavarian Nordic A/S means that donors like GAVI the Vaccine Alliance and UNICEF can buy it. But supplies are limited because there's only a single manufacturer.
바카라This first pre-qualification of a vaccine against mpox is an important step in our fight against the disease, both in the context of the current outbreaks in Africa, and in future,바카라 said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The UN health agency chief called for 바카라urgent바카라 scale-up of procurement, donations and rollout to get the vaccine where it is needed most, along with other response measures.
Under the WHO authorisation, the vaccine can be administered in people aged 18 or above in a two-dose regimen. The approval says that while the vaccine is not currently licensed for those under 18 years old, it may be used in infants, children and adolescents 바카라in outbreak settings where the benefits of vaccination outweigh the potential risks바카라.
Officials at the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention said last month that nearly 70 per cent of cases in Congo 바카라 the country hardest hit by mpox 바카라 are in children younger than 15, who also accounted for 85 per cent of deaths.
On Thursday, the Africa CDC said 107 new deaths and 3,160 new cases had been recorded in the past week, just a week after it and WHO launched a continental response plan.
Mpox belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox but causes milder symptoms like fever, chills and body aches. People with more serious cases can develop lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals.