Health advocates are urging the federal government to approve and secure the supply of a second monkeypox vaccine amid fears of rising cases in Australia.
Key points:
- There have been more than 40 cases of monkeypox in Australia
- It is requested that the use of a second monkeypox vaccine be approved
- Australian Federation of AIDS Organizations’ Heath Paynter says second vaccine needed before Sydney hosts World Pride
Over the weekend, the World Health Organization declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern – the United Nations’ highest alert level.
There are more than 16,000 cases in 75 countries, including more than 40 in Australia.
There are two types of smallpox vaccine that can be used for smallpox, but only one of them, ACAM2000, is available in Australia and can be risky for immunocompromised patients, such as those with HIV .
It is currently only recommended for healthcare workers or anyone at high risk of exposure and is considered for close contacts of positive cases.
Health advocates are calling on the federal government to approve and ensure the supply of the other vaccine, the MVA vaccine known as Jynneos/Imvanex/Invamune, which is widely used in the United States and Europe.
Heath Paynter, from the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, says its launch also needs to be targeted.
“What we are asking for is a supply of the vaccine and after ATAGI recommends access to the vaccine for all gay and bisexual men who are at risk of monkeypox,” he said.
Heath Paynter would like a second monkeypox vaccine to be available before the summer. (ABC News: Shaun Kingma)
So far, more than 98% of cases have been in men who have sex with men.
Paynter says gay and bisexual men are especially vigilant about their health and the health of their communities, if they have the right information.
“What they want to do is be able to have access to the tools and strategies to protect their own health and protect the health of their communities,” he told 7.30.
“And I think it’s the concern of having these tools available that’s causing fear and concern here in Australia.”
With Sydney hosting World Pride in February, there are concerns that without an adequate supply of vaccines it could become an overbroadcast event.
“We need to have rapid access to the vaccine and we need to be able to expand vaccine coverage to all gay and bisexual men,” Paynter said.
“We need to have these measures in place before the summer, and especially before next February and March, when Sydney hosts World Pride.”
In a statement, a spokesman for Health Minister Mark Butler said securing the supply and relevant approvals for new monkeypox vaccines was a priority.
They said the TGA had not yet received an application for the second vaccine option, but would prioritize its assessment as soon as it did.
“I was crying going to the bathroom”
Like COVID before it, New York City has been the epicenter of the monkeypox outbreak in the United States.
Mark Hall spent more than three weeks in isolation with the virus after contracting it at the Pride event in New York in June.
“It looked like an ingrown hair. I didn’t really think anything of it,” he told 7.30.
“A couple of days later there were two more in the same area. And I looked at them and said, wow, that’s kind of weird. I think that might be monkey pox.”
Mark Hall says he fought to get tested for smallpox in New York. (Twitter: Mark Hall)
These initial spots quickly spread and were joined by a headache and fever.
“I developed some lesions in my urethra, which were very, very painful. I just felt like it was incredibly painful.
“I know I have to pee and I’m anticipating it and I’m crying on the way to the bathroom.”
Even after noticing symptoms, Mr Hall struggled to get tested due to a shortage of local supplies.
“When I was tested a few weeks ago, New York City could run about 10 people a day and it would take several days for my results to come back,” he told 7.30.
“And one of the big problems with that is that there’s a four-day window of exposure to the vaccination, where you can prevent people from getting smallpox once they’ve been exposed.
“But that whole window had already closed for everyone he had come in contact with.”
Mr Hall hopes Australia can learn from and avoid what has happened in the US, which has also seen long queues for vaccines.
“If there’s education, if there’s testing, if there’s vaccines available, then I think it won’t be a problem. I think we can get it under control quickly,” he said.
“We’re still able to do it, but if not, it’s going to be a big problem.”
Eradication expected but ‘may take time’
Dr. Fasseli Coulibaly says that monkeypox “appears to be quite mild” in most cases. (Provided: Monash University)
Associate Professor Fasseli Coulibaly is Head of Laboratory at the Biomedical Discovery Institute at Monash University.
He said that while people should watch for symptoms, there was no cause for alarm.
“These viruses have been around for a long time. We’ve known about human disease caused by monkeypox since the 1970s,” he told 7.30.
“It’s spreading more than we anticipated, more than we’ve seen before, so the virus seems to be behaving differently than previous outbreaks.
“But [there is] hopefully with what we know about smallpox we can have strategies to eradicate it. We have eradicated smallpox, which is caused by the smallpox virus.
“The tools are still there, the vaccines, a couple of drugs, and therefore there are approaches [but] it may take time.”
So far, there have been fewer than 10 deaths in the current outbreak and Dr Coulibaly says most people will have relatively mild symptoms.
“Monkeypox used to have a case fatality ratio of 1 percent. What we’re seeing here, and that’s good news, is that it’s much lower than that at the moment,” he told 7.30.
“The disease appears to be quite mild and does not cause death in the vast majority of cases, but the symptoms can be quite painful.
“So it’s very important to get diagnosed, it’s very important to act. You shouldn’t let it get infected if you could have been contaminated.
“But it’s not the same level of concern as previous outbreaks of smallpox or even smallpox. It’s nowhere near those levels.”
Paid leave for smallpox patients
Monkey pox has been declared a global emergency by the WHO. (CDC: Cynthia S)
Advocates are also calling on the federal government to consider a paid leave plan for those who need to isolate themselves because of monkeypox.
The current advice is that people with probable or confirmed chicken pox should be isolated until all lesions have cleared up to prevent further spread of the disease, which can take weeks.
Heath Paynter says isolation will be an important part of the response to the outbreak.
“People will need to be supported to take the several weeks off they will need to properly recover from monkeypox,” he told 7.30.
“And that will need government support for people who have casual work.
“But it also needs employers to be flexible with people on sick leave to make sure they can take the leave, they have to fully recover from smallpox.”
The ABC has contacted Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt for comment.
Watch this story at 7.30 on ABC TV and ABC iview.