WHO warns: Monkeypox vaccination is no allround cure

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After reports of vaccine breakthroughs, vaccine protection alone cannot be relied upon.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is warning against viewing vaccination as a panacea following reports of monkeypox vaccine breakthroughs. It stressed that randomized controlled trials are not yet available. Still, the reports suggest that vaccine protection alone should not be relied upon, WHO monkeypox expert Rosamund Lewis said Wednesday in Geneva.

In randomized controlled trials, participants are randomly divided into two groups and treated differently, for example, one with the drug and the second with a placebo without an active ingredient. Only from the evaluation of such studies can conclusions be drawn about the efficacy of a substance.

“We knew from the beginning that this vaccine would not be a panacea, that it would not meet all the expectations placed on it,” Lewis said. But that was not to be expected, he added. Vaccine breakthroughs would be reported in people who had been vaccinated after possible contact with an infected person and in those who had been vaccinated as a precaution.

Lewis stressed that vaccinated people must wait at least two weeks after the second dose of vaccine to allow the substance to take full effect before exposing themselves to risky behavior. More than 90 percent of monkeypox cases are reported in men who have frequent sex with changing partners. She urged these men to reduce the number of sexual partners they have and avoid group sex.

According to the Robert Koch Institute (RK), basic immunization for adults who have not received the smallpox vaccine in the past is two doses of the Imvanex vaccine at least 28 days apart. While the first dose of vaccine already provides good basic protection, the second dose extends the duration of vaccine protection. He said that one dose of vaccine is sufficient for people who have been vaccinated against smallpox in the past.

More than 35,000 monkeypox cases from 92 countries had been reported to WHO. Twelve people lost their lives. Within a week, there were 7,500 cases, 20 percent more than the previous week.