Monkeypox vaccine

• With WHO declaring monkeypox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), governments around the world are initiating steps towards developing or even sourcing a vaccine against monkeypox.

Key Highlights

• There is no dedicated monkeypox vaccine, but vaccinations against smallpox are found to be 85% effective in preventing smallpox, a disease eradicated in 1980.
• In 2019, US Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), approved JYNNEOS vaccine for the prevention of smallpox, monkeypox and other diseases caused by orthopoxviruses, including vaccinia virus, in adults 18 years of age and older and categorised as having a “high risk of infection.”
• Developed by: Danish biotechnology company, Bavarian Nordic
• It contains a live vaccinia virus that does not replicate efficiently in human cells.