Paediatricians ask to bring necessary smallpox vaccines to African countries

They express concern about the rising incidence of the disease among boys and girls in these countries.

Paediatricians warn: MPOX, previously called monkeypox, mainly affects children. We are talking about Africa. There, minors account for 70% of cases, and that is why the Spanish Paediatric Association is trying to send the necessary vaccines. They assure that not all MPOX vaccines will be available in Europe if an epidemic breaks out. What needs to be done is to take the vaccines there, they say. In recent days, more than 200 cases have been confirmed in African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi or Kenya, where 60% of cases are in children and adolescents, and 20% in children under 5. Children play together and the infection occurs closer to skin lesions, body fluids, airborne droplets and contaminated objects. The mode of transmission is the big difference between the 2022 MPOX outbreak, which was transmitted almost exclusively through sexual contact, and this outbreak of the new variant, where most of the victims are minors, with what that entails. They transmit it to adults who may be at risk. In Spain, the risk is low at the moment, so we need to focus on where there is a real problem.

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