The Serum Institute of India (SII) has announced that it is working on a vaccine against monkeypox. Regarding this matter, the institute's CEO, Adar Poonawalla, stated: "Our organization, which is one of the largest vaccine developers in India, is working on developing a vaccine against monkeypox. The vaccine is expected to be ready by the end of this year." He added, "Due to the declared situation in the world because of the monkeypox outbreak, we started to develop a vaccine for this disease, and we hope to have more positive news to share throughout the year."
Earlier, the Indian government had issued several recommendations for isolating individuals suspected of having monkeypox, and the National Institute of Virology (NIV) was tasked with testing samples of the virus. Furthermore, the acting director of the Indian AIDS Research Institute, Raman Gangakhedkar, stated: "The currently available vaccines against monkeypox have shown an effectiveness of 80%, so they can be considered effective, but live-attenuated virus vaccines may be more effective in treating at-risk populations, and there will be no need for mass vaccination as a strategy."
"Monkeypox," also known as mpox, is a disease caused by a virus that spreads from person to person through contact with the infected person's skin, via the respiratory system, or through the eyes, nose, or mouth. It can also spread through contact with surfaces contaminated with the virus, such as bedding and clothing, in addition to close contact with infected animals, such as monkeys and rodents. Symptoms of this disease include skin rashes and lesions, fever, headache, muscle and joint pain, weakness, and swollen lymph nodes.
