'We need to get doses out': Virologist stresses importance of monkeypox vaccine
With the World Health Organization declaring monkeypox a global health threat, one virologist is stressing the importance of getting vaccines to those who are most at risk.
“We need to get doses out,” said Jason Kindrachuk, assistant professor and Canada research chair at the University of Manitoba, in an interview on Wednesday.
Kindrachuk’s statement comes after Manitoba expanded eligibility for the monkeypox vaccine last week. However, on Monday, the province tweeted that all available monkeypox vaccine appointments are booked.
The tweet noted that the province expects to be able to make more appointments available soon.
Kindrachuk said there are limited doses of the vaccine.
“We’ve already seen the FDA move towards a different strategy to try and do some dose sparing based on older data from the clinical trials,” he said.
“We haven’t heard anything about that in Canada yet, but that may occur.”
WHERE DID MONKEYPOX COME FROM?
Kindrachuk explained that it is notoriously difficult to pin down where pox viruses come from.
He added that monkeypox was first identified in 1958 in non-human primates, and was then found in humans in 1970.
“We’ve been dealing with this virus for the better part of over five decades now and certainly it’s been considered a global health threat probably for the better part of the last 30 years, but we haven’t seen a lot of sustained investment in trying to reduce cases in endemic regions, unfortunately,” he said.
Kindrachuk said the 2022 outbreak isn’t the first time the virus has left the continent of Africa, as the virus was in the United States in 2003.
He said researchers are now working to try to identify how the current outbreak started.
“Was it one single event, that introduction, that came from West or Central Africa then moved into a different region of the world and then we started seeing an onset of cases?” he said.
“Or did we see different distributions in different regions of the world and we have this transmission that was occurring underneath the radar for a finite period of time before cases got to a point that we started to recognize them?”
WHO IS GETTING MONKEYPOX?
Kindrachuk noted monkeypox is predominately being reported in those within the gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) community.
“The cases continue to be overwhelmingly found within males usually within the age of 30 to 40, and those that tend to identify as being men who have sex with men,” he said. “It doesn’t mean the virus is only limited to those populations.”
However, Kindrachuk said there is enough data to show that the virus can affect anyone and that those in younger age groups are at risk of more severe disease.
As for symptoms, Kindrachuk said it starts as a fever or just feeling generally unwell. Then usually within a few days, a person will develop a rash or lesion.
“In the past, these lesions have been very synchronous in their development. We’ve seen an over-representation in the face, the arms, the legs, the trunk of the body,” he said.
“Here, we’re not necessarily seeing that pattern. We’re seeing certainly more so in the genital region, but also very asynchronous.”
- With files from CTV’s Rachel Lagace.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'A beautiful soul': Funeral held for baby boy killed in wrong-way crash on Highway 401
A funeral was held on Wednesday for a three-month-old boy who died after being involved in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 in Whitby last week.
Police handcuff man trying to enter Drake's Toronto mansion
Toronto police say a man was taken into custody outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion Wednesday afternoon after he tried to gain access to the residence.
Biden says he will stop sending bombs and artillery shells to Israel if they launch major invasion of Rafah
U.S. President Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday he would halt shipments of American weapons to Israel, which he acknowledged have been used to kill civilians in Gaza, if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
U.S. presidential candidate RFK Jr. had a brain worm, has recovered, campaign says
Independent U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has fully recovered, his campaign said, after the New York Times reported about the ailment.
Ontario Provincial Police arrest 64 suspects in child sexual exploitation investigation
Ontario Provincial Police say 64 suspects are facing a combined 348 charges in connection with a series of child sexual exploitation investigations that spanned the province.
Pfizer agrees to settle more than 10K lawsuits over Zantac cancer risk: Bloomberg News
Pfizer has agreed to settle more than 10,000 lawsuits about cancer risks related to the now discontinued heartburn drug Zantac, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday, citing people familiar with the deal.
Quebec premier defends new museum on Quebecois nation after Indigenous criticism
Quebec Premier Francois Legault is defending his comments about a new history museum after he was accused by a prominent First Nations group of trying to erase their history.
Blind Sask. boy heading to international braille competition hopes to increase accessibility for visually impaired
A Saskatchewan boy who qualified for an international braille competition in Los Angeles next month hopes he can inspire change in his home province.
'A step forward': New screening criteria for sperm donors takes effect
Canadians looking to grow their families with the assistance of sperm or egg donations should soon have more options for donors as the federal health agency does away with longstanding restrictions criticized as discriminatory.