Following the 9/11 attacks, the United States is considering immunizing the entire population to protect itself from a smallpox terrorist attack. “In the end, it was decided not because of the negative effects of vaccinating many people,” said Bill Hanaj, an epidemiologist at Harvard’s TH Chan School of Public Health.
“The side effects of the vaccine are rare,” he added. “But once you start giving it to millions of people, then they will start collecting.”
Newer-generation vaccines such as Jynneos are likely to be safer for large groups, and ring-based vaccination may be enough to keep the virus at bay. “Hopefully, monkeypox is still relatively rare at the moment, and the ring vaccination strategy may be able to keep it completely at bay,” said Dr. Hanaj.
In addition to prevention vaccines, the United States has purchased more than two million doses of an antiviral pill called tecovirimat, which is approved for the treatment of smallpox in those who become infected, according to the CDC. intravenous form.
Human monkeypox was first identified in 1970 in a 9-year-old boy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo region, where smallpox was eliminated. The incidence of monkeypox in the country has increased significantly in the decades since the end of mass smallpox vaccination.
In 2003, the United States reported dozens of cases of monkeypox, which were traced to infected pets. Although the virus was first discovered in 1958 in monkeys raised for research purposes, it is spread by rodents.
One to two weeks after exposure, infected people may begin to experience fever, sore throat, cough, fatigue, and body aches. They also develop a distinct rash, first on the face, then on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, and then all over the body. The lesions form blisters, grow and fill with a white purulent substance.
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