More than 18,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in 78 countries.
New Delhi:
The center has asked vaccine manufacturers to develop a vaccine against smallpox for monkeys, with some cases already appearing in the country. Manufacturers of diagnostic kits have been asked to develop diagnostic kits for this disease. The Indian Council of Medical Research has requested tenders from both and has indicated they are willing to supply the monkeypox virus strain.
The ICMR said that a vaccine candidate and diagnostic kit could be developed under a Public-Private Partnership, and that the last date to submit an “Expression of Interest” would be August 10, ICMR said.
So far, four cases of monkeypox have emerged in India – three from Kerala and one from Delhi.
The World Health Organization says more than 18,000 confirmed cases have been reported in 78 countries. More than 70% of cases come from the European region and 25% come from the Americas.
But there are few vaccine candidates.
One company – Bavarian Nordic based in Denmark – has developed a vaccine against smallpox for monkeys, but there are no data on effectiveness.
Yesterday, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization, told NDTV that it was necessary to scale up production.
“The Bavarian Nordic has 16 million doses, which is part of the US stockpile. The US has donated some of those doses to a number of other countries,” she said.
Not only can Indian companies have a role to play in bottling, marketing and distributing existing vaccines, she points out, but “we need to explore if we can … transfer the technology.” technology and start production in other locations,” she said.
