According to the World Health Organization, there has been a 20% increase in the number of monkeypox cases over the last week.
More than 35,000 infections have been reported across 92 countries, but almost all of them are in Europe and the Americas. There have been twelve deaths so far.
Most of the patients are men who have sex with men. Tedros said that there is limited data on the effectiveness of the vaccine in the current outbreak. The company that makes Jynneos is called Bavarian Nordic.
Tedros said during a press conference that they were concerned that the inequitable access to vaccines would be repeated.
There are reports of breakthrough cases in which people who received the shots after exposure to the virus are still falling ill even after receiving the vaccine as a preventative measure.
The vaccine can be given before or after exposure to reduce the risk of serious disease.
Lewis told reporters that the vaccine wouldn't be a silver bullet and wouldn't meet all expectations.
Lewis said that the reports show the importance of individuals taking other precautions such as reducing their number of sexual partners and avoiding casual sex during the current outbreak. She said that it is important for people to know that their immune system does not peak until two weeks after the second dose.
Lewis said that people need to wait until the vaccine can create a maximum immune response. In the 1980's, a study found that the vaccines for smallpox were 85% effective at preventing monkeypox. Jynneos was approved for use in the U.S. to treat two diseases in the same family.
The fact that we are starting to see some breakthrough cases is important information because it shows that the vaccine is not 100% effective.
Lewis said that it is not known what the changes in the monkeypox virus mean for the human immune response.
A case of monkeypox was reported in Paris, the first instance of an animal catching the disease. The couple who fell ill with the virus caught a dog they caught. A couple shared their bed with an animal. People who are sick with monkeypox have been told to keep their pets away from them.
The head of the WHO's emergencies program said that a pet becoming infectious is not uncommon. According to Dr. Briand, this doesn't mean that dogs can transmit the disease to people.
Lewis said that it is important to manage waste properly to avoid infecting animals outside of human households. People in West and Central Africa have been affected by monkeypox in the past.
Ryan said that they don't want to see disease move from one species to the next. The public health risk from this scenario is very high.
He doesn't think the virus will evolve in one dog than in one human.
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