Africa Faces Another Apartheid Vaccine In Monkeypox Fight By .

Even after the novel coronavirus has exposed glaring flaws in the world’s collective ability to respond to infectious disease outbreaks, we are seemingly reverting to the old ways, as evidenced by the global response to the now-endemic monkeypox. The world may once again miss the chance to control a pandemic.
The zoonotic viral disease, which is already endemic in 10 countries in West and Central Africa, only caught the world’s attention after it affected people in rich countries in the Global North. Even after the disruption caused by COVID-19, the self-defeating reluctance of rich countries to cooperate for the benefit of the entire world population is again evident.
This year, there have been dozens of cases of monkeypox in Cameroon, Nigeria and the Central African Republic (CAR), with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reporting the highest number of infections with over 2,938 cases and 110 deaths. As of September 9, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (A-CDC) reported 4,244 total cases (520 confirmed, 3,724 suspected) and 124 deaths. There are nearly 58,000 cases worldwide, with 125 countries reporting at least one case. African health officials continue to face the challenge of undercounting due to limited surveillance and testing capacity, which explains the huge disparity between confirmed and suspected cases. In addition, the absence of vaccines for frontline health workers and laboratory technicians in affected countries puts them at immediate risk.
In July this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the global outbreak of monkeypox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Researchers in Africa hoped the statement – the WHO’s highest non-pandemic alert – would alert the world to support the continent’s fight against the disease. Unfortunately, this did not happen. The WHO’s PHEIC label means a coordinated international response is needed to unlock funding and global collaborative efforts to share vaccines, technologies and treatments. Researchers and health officials in Africa are wary that, as with the COVID-19 vaccine apartheid against African countries, the continent will continue to be on the sidelines in its quest to secure enough vaccines.
To date, although WHO member states have pledged more than 31 million doses of smallpox vaccine to the global organization for smallpox emergencies, these vaccines have never been shared with Africa for use against smallpox.
Monkeypox is transmitted to humans through contact with infected animal blood, body fluids, or skin or mucosal lesions. Human infections occur by handling infected monkeys, giant Gambian rats, and squirrels, with rodents the most likely reservoirs of the virus. The current outbreak is the largest in history outside of Africa, and human-to-human transmission occurs primarily among men who have sex with men.
Symptoms include fever, severe headache, swollen lymph nodes, back pain, muscle pain and lack of energy. There may be skin rashes that start on the face and spread to other parts of the body [including the genitals] and develop into blisters and crusts, according to the A-CDC. Scientists identified the existence of two known strains of the virus in endemic areas of Africa, with the Congo Basin showing the greatest mortality with a fatality rate of up to 11 percent in some of the outbreaks. According to the WHO, the mortality rate from monkeypox is usually 3 to 6 percent. The WHO reports that monkeypox occurs most commonly in species of squirrels, rats, and rodents, occasionally spilling over into the human population, spreading primarily through close contact. Isolation of infected individuals usually helps limit transmission. The WHO also reports that the smallpox vaccine, a much deadlier and more contagious virus, also protects against monkeypox. But the world stopped using it in the 1970s, just before smallpox was declared eradicated.
However, rich nations still maintain stocks of smallpox vaccines, which have been used in the UK, US, France and Canada to protect people who have been in close contact with monkeypox patients, but few lower income countries have access to vaccines. There is now an apparently coordinated global response that has seen vaccines distributed to some countries after confirmed cases of the disease in Portugal, Spain, the US and the UK. However, Africa is thus far facing another episode of unconscious vaccine apartheid in its fight against this latest outbreak of monkeypox due to the hoarding of vaccines by rich countries. It therefore presents another opportunity for African leaders to amplify their voices in a combined effort to demand that G20 leaders prioritize global access to vaccines for all nations, particularly developing countries, when facing a disease which has the potential to be endemic worldwide. Dr. Ijezie, is the Country Program Manager, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Nigeria.