New vaccines on their way as monkeypox declared an ‘incident of national significance’
So far 44 cases have been diagnosed in Australia but concern is growing
The Federal Government has secured supplies of its ‘preferred’ smallpox vaccine to bolster vaccination against monkeypox, especially for patients with immunocompromise, ATAGI has revealed.
It comes as the Chief Medical Officer today declared monkeypox an “incident of national significance”, with GPs told to be on alert for cases.
The only smallpox vaccine in the National Medical Stockpile is ACAM2000, a second-generation vaccine that was contraindicated in patients with immunocompromise because it contained replication-competent live virus.
It has also been linked with rare but serious adverse events and required specialised training to administer, plus post-vaccine wound care.
