by Sonia Elijah, Activist Post:
In 2022, mpox (formerly known as monkey pox) drew worldwide attention, when more than 20 countries reported infections to the World Health Organization by May of that year. It led to WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declaring the mpox outbreak involving clade IIb of the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its expansion to neighbouring countries, a global health emergency.
The monkeypox virus is part of the same family of viruses (orthopoxviruses) as smallpox but is less severe. In 1980, the World Health Assembly announced that smallpox had been eradicated and recommended that all countries cease vaccination. Although labs in two countries still officially store smallpox samples (US and Russia).
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Mpox was first identified in Denmark, in 1958, when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease occurred in lab monkeys, which is how it got its name – although monkeys are not considered to be reservoirs for the virus. The source of the virus is said to be unknown.
In 1970, the first human case of mpox was recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This was during a time when smallpox was being eradicated. The disease is considered to be endemic to countries in central and west Africa. The outbreaks have been concentrated among men who have sex with men.
In late September 2023, the emergence of a new variant of the virus was detected in central Africa. As of August 2024, more than 21,000 cases have been reported, with over 600 fatalities, nearly all in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
On 14 August 2024, the World Health Organization declared the epidemic a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
A month after the WHO’s announcement, the small Danish biotech firm, Bavarian Nordic, became the first in the world to receive approval for a monkeypox vaccine, JYNNEOS (known internationally as Imvamune or Imvanex), initially developed for smallpox but was rarely used.
In the wake of the September 2001 anthrax attacks, President George W. Bush signed into law the Project BioShield Act of 2004 (Project BioShield) “as part of a broader strategy to defend America against the threat of weapons of mass destruction. The purpose of Project BioShield is to accelerate the research, development, purchase, and availability of effective medical countermeasures against biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats.”
Project Bioshield was a ten-year program managed by Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The act called for $5 billion for purchasing vaccines that would be used in the event of a bioterrorist attack, for civilian use. Since 2001, $50 billion has been allocated by the United States government to address the threat of biological weapons.
A key element of the Act allowed the stockpiling and distribution of vaccines that had not been tested for safety or efficacy in humans, “due to ethical concerns.” This is because the agents could not have been tested in humans without also exposing them to the threat – instead animal testing was used to establish efficacy.
