“And the good news is that we can divide these doses into up to five parts. With this, we can benefit a greater number of people”, said the Minister of Health. monkey pox has signs and symptoms that are characterized from skin lesions and rashes, fever, body aches, headache, chills and weakness.
The emergency import of the batch was negotiated with the Danish laboratory Bavarian Nordic and intermediated by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
Brazil recorded the 3rd highest number of confirmed cases of the disease (6.448), behind only Spain (6.947) and the United States (22.616), according to data collected up to the 16th by World Health Organization.
Who should receive the vaccines?
Queiroga reinforced that the monkeypox vaccine will not yet be offered to the entire population and said that although the disease is “very prevalent in men who have sex with other men” but anyone Anyone who has “skin-to-skin or mucosa-to-mucosa contact” with an infected patient can acquire the disease. “We have to make it very clear that it is not to stigmatize or discriminate against” people because they have a disease, added the minister.
Among the specific groups that should receive the vaccine are:
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- health professionals who deal directly with samples from infected people;
- people who have had contact with carriers of the virus.
Other vaccines in sight
Brazilian vaccine
The minister also commented that, in addition to the emergency import of these doses, there is a Brazilian vaccine against the disease that is currently being studied. The candidate to protect the population is expected to be operating in second half of 2023.
According to Queiroga, the vaccine developed by the Biomanguinhos Institute – linked to the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FioCruz) – would be an alternative here “if there is an indication for vaccination for larger groups of people”.
Emergency use
The Ministry of Health also received emergency authorization from the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) to import the antiviral Tecovirimat, which must be used in serious and specific situations. “It is used in situations where we no longer have alternatives for these patients,” said the Minister of Health.
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About the vaccine
The Bavarian Nordic vaccine was developed a decade ago from the vaccinia virus, which is from the same family as monkeypox. People aged 40 who had been vaccinated against human smallpox during childhood with this vaccine now have a good level of protection against the disease.
In the United States, the vaccine is known as Jynneos and in Europe, its trade name is Imvanex. (State of Minas)
With information from Brazil Agency.
