The world deserves full transparency and the ability to make informed decisions

BY ADRIAN REECE

Monkeypox has been speculated to become a new potential pandemic. It is the new concern that is at the back of everyone’s mind. People see images online and fear creeps into their minds, reminding them of the struggles of the COVID-19 pandemic years ago. So far over 120 countries have reported more than 103,000 cases of monkeypox since the global outbreak in 2022 and 2024 itself boasts a staggering number of cases at over 25,000. Monkeypox has claimed 723 lives across the continent of Africa based on data as of September 2024.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has taken steps to get ahead of this concern by approving their first vaccine against monkeypox, or mpox for short. The new vaccine going by the name MVA-BN is safe for people over the age of 18 and is given in two doses one month apart.

Since this vaccine was developed for adults, children are naturally susceptible to the disease. In place of creating a safe vaccine for young people, the head of research at the WHO Dr Ana-Maria Restropo stated in a media briefing that Congo could use off-label vaccines for children to battle mpox. Off-label in medicine is the practice of prescribing a drug for a different purpose than the FDA originally approved it for. The first dose is stated to have a 76% effectiveness in protecting people from the disease with the second dose increasing this number to 82%, and vaccination after exposure is less effective.

This is a rushed decision considering the fear we faced when Covid took over our lives. This generation will compare every disease with the potential to start a pandemic to Covid and the lowdown that took place. That is the impact it has left on us, and with the rushed vaccine and rules that were not changed so frequently, it is difficult to place trust in the WHO.

The approval of this vaccine will aid national regulators in approving and releasing their own vaccines, in their eyes fighting mpox and keeping people safe, but the trust is so shaken it is difficult for this generation to willingly take these vaccines that are being pumped out. An important precedent that ruling bodies need to consider is building a reputation of transparency with the people they are supposed to be serving.

Building trust would involve extensive testing before releasing medicinal products that we are expected to take. In-depth explanations of the contents of anything that we would be required to take, and the allowance of free speech of doctors of all walks of life. Doctors have differing opinions just like people in any other profession. The discourse over medicine would allow people who aren’t trained in medicine to be able to make more informed decisions without being subjected to one perspective.

While this has the potential to set a dangerous precedent for the information we consume, free knowledge is worth the risk. Especially in the light of how the WHO and CDC (Centre For Disease Control) handled the last pandemic. The world deserves full transparency and the ability to make informed decisions without being led to them, or coerced into taking something that they will never understand or are given the opportunity to understand.