Vaccines against mpox are not 'experimental'

"Be ready for the vaccine bullshit, the regime has prepared the experimental vaccine, like what happened during Covid, for the LGBT disease monkeypox. One word: Reject It!!” read an Indonesian-language post on social media platform X on August 15.

The post featured an infographic about three vaccines -- Imvamune, LC16m8 and ACAM 2000 -- credited to the Indonesian news outlet Sindo News.

"3 vaccine candidates to fight monkeypox in Indonesia as a strategy to prevent the spread, the government is trying to provide the monkeypox vaccines," the Indonesian-language title and caption read.

Image

Screenshot of false post, taken on August 26, 2024

Similar false claims have been shared on Threads and Facebook.

They circulated after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared on August 14 that the mpox upsurge was a public health emergency of international concern (archived link). 

Between January 2022 and June 2024, 208 deaths and more than 99,000 mpox cases were recorded across 116 countries, according to the WHO.

In Indonesia, the health ministry said it had recorded 88 cases of mpox since it was first detected in the archipelago in August 2022 (archived link). 

But the vaccines have been used for years and Indonesia has already administered one of them in its mpox vaccination programme in 2023.

The Food and Drug Monitoring Agency (BPOM) said they have prepared 7,600 doses of vaccines for mpox (archived link).  

Prima Yosephine, director of immunisation management in Indonesia's health ministry, said the country currently has Imvamune, 2,000 doses of which were initially ordered in 2022 (archived link here and here). 

Same virus genus

According to a WHO paper published on August 23, 2024, the three vaccines --  Imvamune, LC16m8 and ACAM2000 have all been originally developed for smallpox, an acute contagious disease caused by the variola virus (archived links here, here and here). 

These vaccines are also effective against other viruses in the poxviridae family's orthopoxvirus genus, such as mpox.

"Mpox and smallpox are caused by viruses from the same family, poxviridae. Because the two viruses are closely related, the smallpox vaccine is still effective for mpox," Tri Yunis Miko Wahyono, an epidemiologist from the University of Indonesia, told AFP (archived link).

Globally, two vaccines for mpox have been used in recent years; MVA-BN, manufactured by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic and branded as Imvamune in Canada; and Japan's LC16m8.

In the US, a second-generation smallpox jab called ACAM2000 has been approved (archived link).

Baseless claim

WHO said mpox largely affected gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men due to their close contact networks, but the infection is not limited to these communities.

The Indonesian health ministry said the vaccines were administered since October 23, 2023 and given to high-risk groups such as those who have close contact with mpox patients and men who have sex with men (archived link).

Prima also told AFP that "other risky groups include laboratory workers who carry out virological specimen examinations, especially in areas where there are mpox cases, and health workers who treat mpox cases".

Richard Martinello, an infectious disease specialist at Yale University said there is no infectious disease in the world "whose transmission is limited by a person's sexual orientation" (archived link).

"It is close, skin-to-skin contact which can lead to the spread of mpox, not one's sexual orientation," he added.

AFP has previously debunked similar false claims in French (archived link).