TEHRAN – The World Health Organization (WHO) has authorized the MVA-BN vaccine as the first vaccine against mpox to be added to its prequalification list.

Mpox is an infectious disease caused by the mpox virus. It can cause a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes, and fever. Most people fully recover, but some get very sick.

Due to the absence of a vaccine for mpox, smallpox vaccine was used and the third generation vaccine named MVA-BN vaccine was prequalified to be effective with low side-effects, ISNA quoted Farshid Rezaei, an official with the health ministry, as saying.

The vaccine, made by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, has been approved by the regulatory authorities in Europe as well as the United States, he added.

According to the WHO website, the MVA-BN vaccine can be administered in people over 18 years of age as a 2-dose injection given 4 weeks apart.

The WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization reviewed all available evidence and recommended the use of the MVA-BN vaccine in the context of an mpox outbreak for persons at high risk of exposure.

While MVA-BN is currently not licensed for persons under 18 years of age, this vaccine may be used “off-label” in infants, children, and adolescents, and in pregnant and immunocompromised people.

WHO also recommends single-dose use in supply-constrained outbreak situations.

Available data shows that a single-dose MVA-BN vaccine given before exposure has an estimated 76% effectiveness in protecting people against mpox, with the 2-dose schedule achieving an estimated 82% effectiveness. Vaccination after exposure is less effective than pre-exposure vaccination.

Over 120 countries have confirmed more than 103 000 cases of mpox since the onset of the global outbreak in 2022.

In 2024 alone, there were 25 237 suspected and confirmed cases and 723 deaths from different outbreaks in 14 countries of the African Region (based on data from 8 September 2024).

Fortunately, there have been no reports of mpox in the country so far, according to the health ministry.

MT/MG