Monkeypox vaccine may not be available until 2023 – NCDC

The Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has revealed that the monkeypox vaccine may not be available until 2023

The Director General of NCDC said this during the Ministerial Press Conference held in Abuja on COVID-19 Response and Development in the Health Sector

Adetifa said the center is considering securing treatments as a key priority as an option to provide those most at risk of serious illness, hospitalization and death.

Monkeypox is a rare viral zoonotic infectious disease which is an infection transmitted from animals to humans that occurs sporadically, mainly in remote villages in Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.

According to Adetifa: "We are also looking at securing treatment as a key priority so that we have the ability to provide those most at risk of serious illness, hospitalization and death.

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"As we know, the situation regarding access to the monkeypox vaccine is very topical, but there are not enough doses of vaccines. Potentially, many more doses will be available, but due to challenges with manufacturing plants and an unexpected increase in monkeypox cases, the vaccine may not be available until 2023."

"But given our own local epidemiology, we believe that researching treatment options is the way forward."

“There are 220 confirmed cases out of 530 suspected cases of Monkeypox and four deaths in 29 states across the country as of August 14, 2022.

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On July 23, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern.

Adetifa further "This means that there is now a need for a coordinated and concerted international response given the unexpected and exponential increase in cases in countries that are not reporting cases of monkeypox.

"As of January 1, 2022, 96 countries worldwide have reported more than 40,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox, including 12 deaths.

“In Nigeria, from the beginning of the year until August 14, we have 220 confirmed cases out of 530 suspected cases and four deaths in 29 states, and we continue our efforts to strengthen surveillance at national and subnational levels in order to to ensure that we are actively conducting risk communication and community engagement.

"We conduct state-level training with state epidemiology teams involving infectious disease experts as well as representatives from the National Infectious Diseases Society and the National Association of Dermatologists."

On Marburg, Adetifa said Ghana is currently on a 42-day countdown to declare an end to the Marburg outbreak

“Currently, NO CASES of Marburg virus disease have been reported in Nigeria. VHD and other emerging viral haemorrhagic diseases, last month conducted a rapid risk assessment to guide preparedness activities in the country.

“Available data suggest that the overall risk of the disease to the Nigerian population is moderate. Lagos for human and zoonotic virology.

“However, we are expanding diagnostic capacity to other labs in our network. We have also stepped up surveillance efforts at the point of entry, trained rapid response teams, and amplified risk communication and NCDC Incident Coordination Center is operating in alert mode,” Adetifa added.