Pharmacist Uchita Parikh prepares a dose of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine at a pop-up vaccination clinic opened today by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on the West Hollywood Library on August 3, 2022 in West Hollywood, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images
The World Health Organization on Thursday declared an end to the worldwide health emergency for the outbreak of the mpox virus.
“We now see regular progress in controlling the outbreak based on the teachings of HIV and dealing closely with probably the most affected communities,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference in Geneva.
“I’m pleased to declare that the mpox isn’t any longer a worldwide health emergency,” Tedros said.
Latest cases of mpox have declined 90% over the past three months, he said.
Previously called monkeypox, the WHO modified the name to mpox last 12 months to cut back stigma.
Mpox, a virus related to smallpox, was previously limited mostly to Africa.
The virus spread rapidly around the globe last 12 months, leading to greater than 87,000 cases and 140 deaths across 111 countries, based on WHO data. It’s the most important known outbreak of the virus in history.
Bavarian Nordic, which manufactures the mpox vaccine, recently warned that the worldwide outbreak was a wake-up call concerning the must ramp up vaccine manufacturing capability to organize for a possible smallpox threat.
“If it wasn’t mpox however it was smallpox, we’re completely on the incorrect scale,” Bavarian Nordic CEO Paul Chaplin told CNBC in an interview last month.
The corporate’s Jynneos vaccine protects against mpox and smallpox.
Mpox spreads primarily through sexual contact, with gay and bisexual men at higher risk of infection.
Although the virus is never lethal, people who find themselves infected develop lesions in sensitive areas which might be very painful and might require hospitalization.
Mpox will be lethal for individuals with severely weakened immune systems, corresponding to those living with HIV.
Public health authorities coping with the outbreak faced a difficult balance of clearly communicating vital details about how the virus was spreading while at the identical time not making a backlash against vulnerable communities.
“While stigma has been a driving concern in managing this epidemic and continues to hamper access to look after mpox, the dreaded backlash against probably the most affected communities has largely not materialized,” Tedros said Thursday. “For that we’re thankful.”
The biggest outbreak of mpox occurred within the U.S., with greater than 30,000 cases and 42 deaths. The Biden administration in January ended the general public health emergency declared in response to mpox after cases dramatically declined within the wake of a national vaccination and public health information campaign.