NCDC Confirms The Absence Of Monkeypox Vaccines In Nigeria

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has confirmed that there is no monkeypox vaccine in the country.

 

The government made this statement in response to worries that the ongoing monkeypox pandemic would become more deadly due to the lack of vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic tools in many parts of the world, particularly Africa.

 

According to an article last week by The New York Times, monkeypox vaccines, treatments, and examinations are not available in African nations.

 

NCDC Reports 48 New Monkeypox Cases In Nigeria, In Just One Week

 

But on Sunday, September 18, the Director General, NCDC, Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, said: “The NCDC has testing and genomic sequencing capacity for monkeypox at our National Reference Laboratory (NRL), Abuja.

 

Given the anticipated high number of cases in 2022, monkeypox diagnostic capability is also being implemented at Central Public Health Laboratory, Lagos, a campus of the NRL.

 

“There are currently no vaccines available in the country. But official requests have been made to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United States for available vaccines (second or third generation).”

“Monkeypox is a self-limiting disease, which has been primarily managed in Nigeria through supportive treatment; meaning the symptoms are treated in the patients. We have identified a few patient groups at very high risk for severe disease, hospitalisation and death. As a result, NCDC is looking into procuring the only medication licensed for monkeypox treatment, Tecovirimat (TPOXX), for high-risk groups (immunosuppressed patients).”

 

Adetifa stated that NCDC’s top priority is to obtain a therapeutic option to provide those at high risk of severe symptoms, hospitalization, and death, given its local epidemiology and experience, regarding the implications of the lack of vaccines and treatment for monkeypox in Nigeria and throughout Africa.