Crypto News: Do I need a monkeypox shot?

Hi folks, it's Kristen logging on from Brooklyn. Last weekend, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency. That has one Prognosis reader wondering whether it's time to roll up her sleeve for another shot. But first…

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Who should get the monkeypox vaccine? I believe I had the smallpox vaccine as a child. — Anne, New York City

Monkeypox is not nearly as aggressive as Covid-19. It's not airborne, and it's far less fatal. It's also been around for decades.

But some similarities in how we have handled the two viruses have emerged: Vaccine distribution has lagged, as has testing. Typically endemic to Africa and rarely seen outside developing nations, monkeypox has now spread to more than 70 countries in just a few months.

To spur a global sense of urgency and coordination, last weekend WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

But so far, the virus has also primarily spread within a single population: men who have sex with men.

"Although the incidence of monkeypox has increased 77% globally over the last month, the risk for the general public is believed to be low," says Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "While not technically a sexually transmitted infection, it has made its way into highly interconnected sexual networks."

Monkeypox, she says, spreads by direct contact with the infectious rash, scabs or body fluids, via respiratory secretions during prolonged face-to-face contact or during intimate physical contact, or by touching items such as clothing that previously touched the rash.

"There are two vaccines licensed by the Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of monkeypox: Jynneos and ACAM2000," Wallace says. ACAM2000, however, is isn't recommended for certain patient populations, including pregnant people, those with weakened immune systems and people with skin conditions. That's put a lot of strain on the supply of Jynneos.

"Because of supply issues, and because the virus only spreads via very close contact, the Jynneos vaccine is currently only recommended for those at high risk of infection," Wallace says.

For now, that group is limited to people who are likely to have been exposed to the virus.

"For those who are not high risk and do not qualify for the vaccine, prevention measures that can be used to prevent monkeypox are avoiding close, skin-to-skin contact with people who have a rash that looks like monkeypox," Wallace says. — Kristen V. Brown

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Ask us anything — well, anything health-related that is! Each week we're picking a reader question and putting it to our network of experts. So get in touch via AskPrognosis@bloomberg.net.