monkeypox

Safety and effectiveness of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine

I’m probably going to have to write about the safety and effectiveness of the monkeypox vaccine several times in the future. But I’ve been reading a lot of misinformation about the new vaccine (I’m shocked, are you?), so I thought I would write about what we know as of today.

Believe it or not, we know a lot about the vaccine. It has been through clinical trials, so we have as much information about the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness as we knew at the launch of every other vaccine. Despite the claims of vaccine deniers all over the world, clinical trials provide us with a lot of good information about vaccines.

Let’s take a look at what we know today about the safety and effectiveness of the monkeypox vaccine.

Monkeypox myths — debunking anti-vaccine claims about the virus

by Michael Simpson
2022-05-29
AstraZeneca, COVID-19 vaccine, Del Bigtree, Vaccines

Within nanoseconds of monkeypox hitting the news, the anti-vaccine activists were pushing myths in force employing their unique brand of conspiracy theories and bad science. Like they did with COVID-19 vaccines, the anti-vaxxers have jumped on monkeypox with all kinds of crackpot ideas and myths that deserve debunking.

As is my policy, I’m not going to point you to any of the crazy websites with these monkeypox myths — I’m not going to send them any traffic. I’m sure I’m missing some good ones, but here’s what I’ve seen.

Smallpox vaccine effectiveness for monkeypox — some facts

I have read several times that the effectiveness of the smallpox vaccine against monkeypox was over 85%. The number comes from the CDC website information about monkeypox which most of us take as authoritative.

I know that I’m probably rushing a little bit to talk about monkeypox and a potential vaccine, given that there have been only two hundred confirmed and suspected cases in the world (as of the date of this article), but there are some troubling issues with this outbreak including a much higher infectivity rate.

If those of us who have received the smallpox vaccine (which was at least 40 years ago for the youngest of us) retain 85% effectiveness against monkeypox, then I’m going to worry a lot less. However, even though that number was posted by the CDC, they gave no links to peer-reviewed articles that support that number. And it was unclear whether they meant the modern smallpox vaccines or the ancient vaccine that nearly 100% of us received decades ago.

So, I’m going to dig into it because I think we should know. Plus the more accurate information we have, the better we are going to deal with the inevitable anti-vaccine tropes, memes, and outright lies that will soon appear across the internet.

Monkeypox virus — what is it and is there a vaccine?

by Michael Simpson
2022-05-19
Bavarian Nordic, Infectious disease, Smallpox vaccine

Massachusetts health authorities confirmed a case of monkeypox on 18 May 2022 after the CDC said it was monitoring the possible spread of the rare but potentially serious viral illness. The virus has spread in several countries and the CDC believes that the actual number of cases is being underreported because few physicians know much about the disease.

When I first heard about the novel coronavirus, I thought that the press was exaggerating and that the disease would disappear in a few weeks. Yes, I was wrong, very wrong.

When I read the first reports of a monkeypox outbreak, I decided to write about it because I was getting questions about the seriousness of the disease and if there was a vaccine for it. It is a serious disease, and as for the vaccine, it’s complicated.

So, let’s talk about monkeypox and potential vaccines.