FG Urged To Obtain Smallpox Vaccines To Fight Monkeypox

Professor Sunday Omilabu, a Virologist and Professor of Virology, is urging the federal government to acquire smallpox vaccines in the fight against monkeypox.

Yesterday, Prof. Omilabu, who spoke in an interview that was aired on ARISE News Channel, stated that research had shown that the smallpox vaccine was effective against the monkeypox virus.

He explained that monkeypox, which is a zoonotic disease, is a virus that can be transferred from animals to humans.

“Government should negotiate for smallpox vaccine as other European countries are doing to prevent more cases of the virus. People above 60 years are lucky because they got a shot of the smallpox vaccine some time ago but people who are presently below 50 years didn’t get the shot.”

Read Also: Smallpox Vaccine Approved By EU For Use Against Monkeypox

The public health expert said that the capacity and structure used for COVID-19 should not be discarded, noting that it had helped in case detection of the virus, “We have laboratory facility to detect this virus and this is as a result of the structure put in place during COVID-19. These structures should be highly maintained.”

He called for more awareness so as to educate people on monkeypox, adding that health workers should be well protected.

“Monkeypox is not as deadlier as COVID-19 but it is very scary when you see people infected with the virus. People should be enlightened about the causes and how the virus is spread from animals to humans.”

Recently, the World Health Organisation (WHO) classified the different variants of monkeypox as Clades l, llA, and llB to avoid social, and cultural offense.