Monkeypox reality check
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) and initiated the process of granting Emergency Use Listing to two monkeypox vaccines. This comes after repeated announcements from so-called global health authorities, a 2021 tabletop simulation exercise of a monkeypox outbreak, and a previous 2022 PHEIC for monkeypox that Tedros declared without the consent of his advisory committee.
Tedros claims it is a response to the increasing spread and severity of the disease, now renamed ‘Mpox’, while Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove of the WHO has stressed the need for stronger surveillance.
So, what is going on?
A look at Mpox cases and symptoms
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is currently experiencing a severe outbreak, with 14,000 cases and 5 deaths at time of writing. Since 2023, the DRC has reported about 12,600 suspected cases and 580 deaths, a sharp rise from previous years, according to the CDC. The disease is also spreading to neighboring countries, with 50 confirmed cases reported in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.
Symptoms of monkeypox infection are usually mild and include fever, rash and swollen lymph nodes, and occasionally intense headache, back pain, muscle aches, lack of energy and skin eruptions that can cause painful lesions, scabs or crusts. It is important to note that severe cases usually have an underlying pathology – that is, the infected person has existing health issues. According to the World Economic Forum, human-to-human transmission is limited and the virus is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids or skin lesions, as well as indirect contact with lesion materials through items such as contaminated bedding or clothing.
In 2022 overall, 98% of infected people were gay or bisexual men, 75% were white, and 41% had human immunodeficiency virus infection; the median age was 38 years. Transmission was suspected to have occurred through sexual activity in 95% of the people infected. While the strain responsible for the current outbreak, clade 1b, is more severe, only a fraction of cases (10%) have been lab-confirmed so far.
Has monkeypox emerged to fill an ecological vacuum?
The re-emergence of monkeypox in 2017 (in Bayelsa state) after 39 years of no reported cases in Nigeria, and the export of travelers' monkeypox from Nigeria to other parts of the world in 2018 and 2019 respectively, have raised concerns that monkeypox may have emerged to occupy the ecological and immunological niche vacated by smallpox virus. One paper elucidates the role of recombination, gene loss, and gene gain in monkeypox evolution and chronicles signaling in monkeypox infection. It also reviews the current therapeutic options available for the treatment and prevention of monkeypox.
It is important to note that traditional public health measures such as contract tracing and quarantining have consistently controlled spread of the disease. So, why is the WHO’s health response purely focused on vaccines?
Monkeypox is a big pharma moneypot
While declaring a PHEIC, the WHO has also invited ‘Mpox vaccine manufacturers’ to submit their latest shot for emergency approval. The Emergency Use Listing process is used to speed up the authorization of unlicensed vaccines, therapeutics, and tests. The highly inappropriate PCR test is again being recommended.
The side effects of existing Mpox vaccines can be severe
Two existing vaccines, Jynneos and ACAM2000, which were originally approved for smallpox, have been deployed to fight the disease. Both vaccines have been linked to severe side effects including myocarditis, pericarditis, general, progressive, and severe vaccinia, fetal death, inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, ocular complications and blindness.
Neither vaccine is approved for children under 18, although in 2022 Jynneos received emergency use authorization in the U.S. for children considered to be at high risk. Officials at the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report the majority of cases and deaths from Mpox now are in children under 15. While this is concerning, this does not mean that all children everywhere are at high risk from the disease. Context is everything: sadly in DRC, a significant proportion of children are malnourished and there is an epidemic of HIV/AIDS leaving children more vulnerable to malnutrition and other health issues (UNAids, 2024).
In short, the case for monkeypox vaccination is paper thin. So, why do it?
A miracle cure for BioNtech’s bottom line
Note that BioNTech (producer of the most widely used mRNA Covid injections) had already done tests in 2013 to make their new Mpox product available if an emergency situation might grant an emergency approval. BioNTech had already reported successful animal studies in mice and macaques for its injection candidate against Mpox, named BNT-166. Should BioNtech now jump on the Mpox vaccine market, please remember that despite being in the red, they announced 90% of their expected income for 2024 (3 billion euros) to occur in October 2024.
The current severity and spread calls for an immediate investigation of the nature of the pathogen, not least because monkeypox variants featured on the NIAID’s biowarfare listin both 2003 and 2006. Studies also show that Covid 19 injections cause immune damage, making recipients more vulnerable to further Covid infections or other pathogens. In 2022, Dr Robert Malone pointed out that, “Unless there has been some genetic alteration, either through evolution or intentional genetic manipulation, [monkeypox] is not a significant biothreat, and has never been considered a high threat pathogen in the past. So, stop the fearmongering, misinformation and disinformation.”
WCH calls for a better, decentralized way
Context has to be considered. Measures in the affected countries require completely different approaches than for people in Asia, Europe, and America. The ‘One Health’ approach espoused by the WHO is nonsensical. Monkeypox was never a matter of big money so little research has been carried out in treatment options. But there are known repurposed drugs, herbs and micronutrients which have can be a part in prevention and treatment. These should always be the first line in public health strategy, not unapproved, unmonitored vaccines.
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