Mpox vaccine approved in Singapore for adults deemed at high risk

SINGAPORE: A vaccine for mpox from the Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic was approved by the Health Sciences Authority (HSA), Singapore’s medicines regulatory authority.

JYNNEOS, which is also a smallpox vaccine, has been approved for individuals aged 18 and older who have been deemed at high risk for smallpox or pox infections.

The vaccine was previously only approved for emergency use in Singapore and other countries.

“We are pleased to add Singapore to the list of countries where our smallpox and mpox vaccine is now approved. We continue to work with regulators in other countries as well to further broaden its access,” said Paul Chaplin, President and CEO of Bavarian Nordic, on Aug 27 (Tuesday).

Mr Chaplin added that the company is also supporting the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to make sure that the vaccines are made available in Africa, where current infections are concentrated and where there is, therefore, the greatest need.

Mpox was declared by the WHO as a public health emergency of international concern earlier this month.

On Aug 14, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus drew attention to the rising number of infections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a growing number of other African countries.

Mpox is an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus. Its common symptoms are a skin rash or lesions lasting two to four weeks, fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes.

It can be transmitted through physical contact with an infected person, contaminated materials, or infected animals.

The illness has two variants, clade 2 and clade 1, which is considered to be more severe. On Aug 15, Sweden was the first country outside Africa to see a clade 1 variant case, with the patient had travelled to an area affected by the virus. On Aug 22, Thailand reported its first clade 1 variant case as well.

Health Minister Ong Ye Kung said earlier this month that while infections were likely to come to Singapore due to its location as a travel hub, an outbreak is unlikely to occur.

Singapore has had 13 mpox cases so far, all of which are of the less severe clade 1 variant.

On Aug 22, the Ministry of Health (MOH), Ministry of Transport and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority announced that precautionary measures to enhance surveillance capabilities against mpox at Singapore’s borders would be implemented. /TISG

Read also: WHO director assures that ‘mpox is not the new COVID’ even as Southeast Asian countries heighten prevention measures