Health Officials Warn Monkeypox Vaccines Can Be Inefficient

Some health officials are commenting on rising concerns that people can get monkeypox even after being vaccinated against it.

The monkeypox vaccine is closely related to the smallpox vaccine, and experts say that the truth is that they “don’t know” how effective the vaccines are at protecting against infection.

The Biden administration declared monkeypox a public health emergency at the beginning of the month. The “public health emergency” label allowed the administration to delegate federal funds to combat the outbreak by distributing more vaccines and being able to study cases more closely.

“We have known from the beginning that this vaccine would not be a silver bullet, that it would not meet all the expectations that are being put on it, and that we don’t have firm efficacy data or effectiveness data in this context,” the World Health Organization’s technical lead for monkeypox Dr. Rosamund Lewis said in a statement.

“The fact that we’re beginning to see some breakthrough cases is also really important information because it tells us that the vaccine is not 100% effective in any given circumstance, whether preventive or post-exposure,” she added.

Though anyone can be infected with monkeypox, it is mainly spreading through male-to-male sexual contact. Ninety-nine percent of cases have been found in people who were assigned male at birth, according to the HHS.

Monkeypox symptoms include fever, chills, headaches and most notably rashes that can develop into lesions which are most common in the genital area but can spread to all parts of the body.