Following the announcement of the first person to die of this disease, several authorities have called for the vaccination process to be strengthened and continued for priority groups.
A vaccination process after another massive one like Covid-19 can cause uncertainty in the population. That said, Gloria Arriagada, PhD in Biological Sciences and researcher at the UNAB Institute of Biomedical Sciences, answers the most important points below to understand how the “Jynneos” vaccine, from the Danish laboratory Bavarian Nordic, works against monkeypox.
The first phase of the process began on 19 October and is aimed at close contacts of confirmed cases, people who engage in high-risk sexual practices and people at occupational risk, such as STI/HIV healthcare personnel and smallpox laboratory personnel of monkeys. samples.
¿How does the monkeypox vaccine work?
This is an attenuated virus vaccine, where the virus has been modified vaccine so that it can protect against classical smallpox and also monkeypox. The virus vaccine It is the one with which smallpox vaccines were formulated and which allowed its worldwide eradication in the 1970s.
The vaccine is given through a small skin lesion into which the attenuated virus is inoculated, which will be detected by the immune system and may generate immunological memory, which means that the immune system recognizes the virus and eliminates it, if it becomes infected. Two doses 28 days apart are required for full immunity.
If the vaccine is for close contacts on this occasion, can it take effect if the person has already been infected?
The vaccine arriving in Chile can be used as post-exposure prophylaxis, meaning it could eventually be used in close contacts of a diagnosed person even when they are already infected, but not if they already have symptoms.
Post-exposure prophylaxis can be done because in this case the incubation period is several days after infection. We remind you that vaccines have two purposes: to stop the infection and, therefore, the circulation of a virus and/or to prevent the development of the disease.
The detractors of the Covid vaccine generally claim that it is an experimental vaccine, what happens in the case of this vaccine?
This is not an experimental vaccine, it is a vaccine that has been approved, at least by the CDC, since 2019 and that has been produced as a line of defense against a possible resurgence of smallpox and the possible emergence of monkeypox.
This is important because in the late 1970s, smallpox vaccination was stopped in many countries when its eradication was declared, so all people born after that are not protected from smallpox.
Are there any significant risks associated with this inoculation?
No, there is no risk associated with inoculation with this vaccine, some people have only seen a swelling of the inoculation area, like the vaccine we were given in first grade; fever, body aches and headache.
