HEALTH Secretary Francisco T. Duque III yesterday said there is no vaccine against monkeypox yet that has been approved or authorized by the Philippines’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

However, Duque said the Department of Health (DOH) is now discussing with the World Health Organization (WHO) where the country can procure monkeypox antivirals in case of an outbreak in the country.

“Wala pang approval ng FDA natin, wala pang emergency use authorization. ‘Yan ang mga legal na batayan para makapagpasok ng antivirals against monkeypox,” he said.

On Friday, the DOH, citing the WHO, said the monkeypox vaccine is not yet widely available.

“The DOH is exploring all possible available sources and expedient legal methods for the procurement of monkeypox vaccines. At present, the DOH is preparing supply chains and logistics services. There are ongoing internal discussions, based on scientific evidence, for the possible acquisition of antivirals in the event of an outbreak or severe cases,” the DOH said.

Duque said he already tasked the DOH’s Pharmaceutical Division to cooperate with the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine and FDA to look for possible available sources of monkeypox vaccines.

He cited the possibility of using Imvamune or Imvanex vaccine, which has been licensed in the United States to prevent monkeypox or smallpox.

The health chief also said that smallpox vaccines may protect against monkeypox due to “cross-protection.”

He said earlier that there is no need yet to close down the country’s borders.

The Philippines, however, has heightened its surveillance and border controls to prevent the entry of the disease.

The WHO on Thursday said severe cases of monkeypox, a virus transmitted from animals to humans, may affect the younger age group more than others.

“Severe cases occur more commonly among children and are related to the extent of virus exposure, patient health status, and nature of complications. Underlying immune deficiencies may lead to worse outcomes,” the WHO said.

Various countries in Europe as well as Canada, the US and the United Kingdom have reported cases of monkeypox, a virus that manifests, among others, as lesions of the skin not unlike chicken pox.

Dr. Marissa Alejandria of the DOH Technical Advisory Group on Tuesday said monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease that is endemic or locally acquired in Africa.

Specifically, Alejandria said monkeypox may be obtained through unprotected contact with respiratory droplets, lesion material, body fluids, and contaminated materials and surfaces.

The virus may enter the respiratory tract, eyes and mouth, and broken skin.

Alejandria also said individuals infected with monkeypox will suffer from fever for one to three days before they develop rashes.

For monkeypox, lesions often appear the same throughout the infection period while there are slight differences for chickenpox.

Meanwhile, infectious disease specialist Dr. Edsel Salvana clarified that contrary to its name, monkeypox doesn’t come from monkeys. It comes from rodents and is passed on to humans and other primates, he said.

Individuals may acquire monkeypox through contact with an infected animal, contaminated animal products, infected people, and mother to fetus transmission.

In a related development, the WHO warned that some 200 monkeypox cases found in recent weeks outside of countries where the virus usually circulates could be just the beginning.

“We don’t know if we are just seeing the peak of the iceberg,” said Sylvie Briand, WHO’s epidemic and pandemic preparedness and prevention chief.

Since Britain first reported a confirmed monkeypox case on May 7, nearly 200 cases have been reported to the UN health agency in countries far from the states where the virus is endemic.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has put the number of such cases at 219.

Endemic in a number of west and central African nations, monkeypox cases have suddenly been detected in more than 20 other countries around the world, including the US, Australia, the United Arab Emirates and nearly a dozen EU countries.

The Spanish health ministry said Friday that 98 cases had been confirmed there so far, while Britain currently counts 90 verified infections.

Portugal has meanwhile registered 74 confirmed cases, health authorities said Friday, adding that all the occurrences are in men, mainly aged below 40.

But while Briand said there would be more cases in the coming days, there is no need to panic as the disease does not spread fast like the COVID-19 and other diseases.

“This is not a disease the general public should be worried about. It is not COVID or other diseases that spread fast,” she said.

Monkeypox is related to smallpox, which killed millions around the world every year before it was eradicated in 1980.

But monkeypox is much less severe, with a fatality ratio of three to six percent. Most people recover within three to four weeks.

While many of the cases have been linked to men having sex with men, experts stress there is no evidence it was a sexually transmitted disease. Rather, it seems to be transmitted by close contact with an infected person who has blisters on their skin.

The WHO said there is not much in the way of treatment, but some antivirals developed against smallpox exist, including one that was recently approved by the European Medicines Agency against smallpox.

Vaccines developed for smallpox have also been found to be about 85 percent effective in preventing monkeypox.

However, since smallpox has not posed a threat in more than four decades, most people under the age of 45 have not received the vaccine, and the supplies of the jabs are today very limited.