Health
Lack of Mpox Shots Is Disaster for Those Most Hit, WHO Aide Says
- International spread can’t be stemmed without shots in Africa
- Pandemic treaty needs finalization to avoid repeat, Rees says
Mpox lesions on a child at the Munigi mpox treatment center in Nyiragongo territory, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo.
Photographer: Arlette Bashizi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Mpox vaccines are urgently needed for adults and children in the most affected African countries to limit a fresh outbreak internationally, the chair of the World Health Organization’s African advisory group on immunization said.
The lack of vaccine “isn’t only a disaster for individuals who are now going to be exposed to disease who would otherwise be protected, but it’s a problem in terms of containing the outbreak,” Helen Rees said on Bloomberg Television Friday. “One of the things that vaccines do is — apart from protecting you as an individual — is that they stop transmission.”