The World Health Organization has authorized the first smallpox vaccine for children, a decision that experts hope will help make immunizations more widely available to one of the populations hardest hit during the ongoing outbreak in Congo and elsewhere in Africa.
In a statement issued late Tuesday, the UN health agency said it had approved the smallpox vaccine produced by Japanese company KM Biologics for use in children over one year old as a single dose.
Earlier this month, the charity Save the Children said that cases among children under the age of 18 had increased by more than 130 percent in Congo, noting that there were now more than 25,000 suspected cases.
The charity said children were four times more likely to die than adults from the latest form of smallpox, which was first discovered in eastern Congo earlier this year. Smallpox-related varicella often causes symptoms that include fever, rash, lesions, and fatigue.
“Children are particularly vulnerable to smallpox,” Dr. Katia Vieira de Moraes Lacasse, from Save the Children, said in a statement. “They explore by touch and taste, don’t always understand health guidelines, and have weaker immune systems than adults.”
Scientists have previously noted that smallpox appears to disproportionately affect children in Congo and Burundi, which account for more than 90% of all smallpox cases in the current outbreak in Africa.
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The World Health Organization had previously approved the smallpox vaccine produced by Bavaria Nordic for people aged 18 and over, but said the vaccine could be used in younger populations if doctors believe the benefits may outweigh the potential risks, given the lack of data. Children and other groups including. Pregnant women.
Last week, the World Health Organization said smallpox cases in the Congolese region, where the new, more contagious form was first identified, appeared to be “plateauing,” even as cases rise elsewhere, including Burundi and Uganda.
So far, about 50,000 people in Congo have been immunized against smallpox using the vaccine produced by Bavaria Nordic.
The World Health Organization said that Japan announced that it would donate about three million doses of the vaccine produced by KM Biologics to Congo. It was not clear whether any of the doses had arrived.
On Friday, the World Health Organization is holding a meeting of its expert committee to determine whether the outbreak in Congo and elsewhere in Africa remains a global emergency, a declaration the UN agency first made in August.
To date, Africa has reported more than 46,000 suspected cases of smallpox in the current outbreak, including 1,081 deaths.
& Edition 2024 The Canadian Press
