Several countries have launched a vaccination campaign against monkeypox. This disease, a cousin of smallpox, circulates in an unusual way outside the countries of Africa, where it is endemic. At present, more than 1,000 cases have been confirmed in around 30 countries.
Although the World Health Organization (WHO) does not believe that this disease can turn into a pandemic, the health authorities of the countries where it has appeared are wondering how to contain its spread.
The strategy applied by Canada, the United States or the United Kingdom, for example, is called “ring vaccination”. “This strategy involves administering the smallpox vaccine – which would be effective against monkeypox because the two viruses are close – to people who are known to have been in close contact with an infected individual”, Explain Nature.
Natalie Dean, biostatistician at the university