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Mpox Vaccine’s Protection Wanes Within 1 Year; Boosters Needed
Antibodies provided by mpox vaccination all but disappear within six to 12 months, new research finds, underscoring the need for boosters to maintain strong protection.
Mpox — previously known as monkeypox — is a fast-spreading virus transmitted mainly through close skin-to-skin contact, especially during sex. Its symptoms include fever, painful rashes or sores and swollen lymph nodes.
Antibodies provided by mpox vaccination all but disappear within six to 12 months, new research finds, underscoring the need for boosters to maintain strong protection.
Mpox — previously known as monkeypox — is a fast-spreading virus transmitted mainly through close skin-to-skin contact, especially during sex.
Its symptoms include fever, painful rashes or sores and swollen lymph nodes.
Sanofi, GSK, CSL Tapped to Expand US Bird Flu Vaccine Supply, Bloomberg News Reports
GSK, Sanofi and CSL Ltd have secured $72 million from the U.S. government to ramp up production of bird flu vaccines, a health official said on Friday during a press briefing.
The move comes as a multi-state outbreak among livestock and poultry has caused human illnesses and infected more than 254 herds in 14 states since March, according to government data.
The companies will use the funds to fill vials and pre-filled syringes so that doses can be ready to distribute if needed, said David Boucher, director of Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The latest award includes $37.9 million for CSL, $23.4 million for Sanofi and $10.5 million for GSK.
It would more than double the country’s supply of shots targeting bird flu, raising the country’s total supply of ready-to-use doses to 10 million within the first quarter of 2025.
GSK, Sanofi and CSL will also make additional bulk vaccine ingredients matched to circulating strains of bird flu, Boucher said.
Making an RSV Vaccine Was Hard. Getting People to Take It Is Even Harder
Carina Marquez, an associate professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, is a big believer in prevention.
So she was delighted when, last year, health authorities in the U.S. and Europe approved the first vaccines for respiratory syncytial virus.
RSV vaccines hold the potential to reduce the thousands of hospitalizations and deaths associated with the virus in the U.S. each year.
But vaccines are only effective if they get in the arms of the people who most need them. “It’s really important to make sure that people have equal access,” Marquez says. “Inequities in access result in inequities in hospitalizations and deaths.”
There are now three vaccines available in the U.S. — GSK’s Arexvy and Moderna’s mRESVIA are approved for use in older adults, and Pfizer’s Abrysvo for older adults and pregnant women — but already, disparities are emerging in their uptake.
Hispanic and Black older adults lag behind their white peers, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Though the CDC recommends an RSV vaccine to everyone 75 or older, so far this year only 19% of Hispanic people in this age group have been vaccinated, compared to 35% of white, 31% of Asian and 24% of Black seniors.
WHO Approves First Mpox Test for Quick Diagnosis
The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the first diagnostic test for mpox where the results can be immediately known, saying it could prove pivotal in helping to stop the rising global cases of the deadly virus.
The new PCR test enables the detection of the mpox DNA taken from skin lesion swabs.
Currently, samples have to be sent to a laboratory for testing and the patient and medics have to wait days for the result.
Limited testing capacity and delays in confirming cases continue to be a challenge in Africa – worsening the spread of mpox that was previously known as monkeypox.
An Ebola-Like Virus Is Spreading in Rwanda. Why Isn’t There an Approved Vaccine for Marburg?
An outbreak of Marburg, a virus closely related to Ebola that can cause severe and often fatal disease, is spreading in Rwanda.
As Africa struggles with compounding public health challenges, this one presents a rare silver lining: the chance to test new vaccines that could save lives across the continent in the future.
The first patient infected with the virus in the country died on Sept. 8, the World Health Organization (WHO) said at a press conference Thursday.
As of Sept. 29, a total of 36 cases and 11 deaths have been reported, making it one of the largest Marburg outbreaks in history.
Although most infections are among health care workers from two hospitals in Kigali, the capital of the East African country, seven of Rwanda’s 30 districts have seen cases.
It is the first time the virus has been known to cause infections in Rwanda.
The WHO indicated the outbreak is highly likely to spread to neighboring countries, but the risk of further global spread is low.
