The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization of the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended this Tuesday preventive vaccination for groups with “high risk of exposure” to monkeypox, and emphasized the need to ” improve routine coverage of polio vaccination” in the face of the increase in cases in different regions of the world and reiterated the need to apply reinforcements against Covid-19.
The recommendations are the result of the meeting that SAGE held from October 3 to 6 in which it reviewed a variety of issues that included vaccines against Covid-19 that contain variants, interim guidance on immunization against monkeypox, vaccines candidates against the respiratory syncytial virus, the 2030 Immunization Agenda and the eradication of polio. In addition, the Committee was also briefed on the Sudan Ebola virus outbreak in Uganda, possible vaccines and the proposed vaccination trial.
In relation to monkeypox, the expert group “recommended primary preventive (pre-exposure) vaccination for groups at high risk of exposure.”
“The group most at risk of exposure in the current outbreak is gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men with multiple sexual partners. Others at risk include people with multiple casual sexual partners; sex workers; healthcare workers at risk of repeated exposure; laboratory personnel working with orthopoxviruses; clinical and health care laboratory personnel performing diagnostic tests and outbreak response personnel.
Monkeypox or monkeypox is a viral disease that we can
prevent everyone.We share information on how to take care of yourself and prevent it 👀👇
– Ministry of Health of the Nation (@msalnacion) September 8, 2022
Regarding polio, the experts expressed concern “about the renewed circulation of wild poliovirus 1 (WPV1) in Pakistan; and about continued detections of WPV1 in southeastern Africa” and about “the continued transmission of vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2), particularly in the African region and in Yemen, as well as detections in New York, London and Jerusalem.” In this context, he stressed the need to “increase efforts to improve routine vaccination coverage” against this disease.
Let’s be Activacounas! 💪
The National Vaccination Campaign against measles, rubella, mumps and polio begins in October for girls and boys from 13 months to 4 years old inclusive.
It’s an additional dose, free and mandatory ❗️
Vaccines protect us.#PeopleFirst pic.twitter.com/V5Hzrfkf8B
– Ministry of Health of the Nation (@msalnacion) September 14, 2022