by Ogoina D, Strub-Wourgaft N. Lancet Infectious Diseases 2023. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(23)00115-9
Summary: The authors of this piece comment on a recent observational study in Lancet Infectious Diseases on the real-world effectiveness of vaccination with a single subcutaneous dose of Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Bavarian Nordic (MVA-BN), a third-generation smallpox vaccine, against symptomatic mpox among gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men (BMSM) at higher risk of exposure to mpox in England. They conclude that to guarantee protection against symptomatic mpox, using a single dose of MVA-BN as pre-exposure prophylaxis appears to be preferable to post-exposure prophylaxis, and highlight remaining knowledge gaps such as effectiveness against other clades (more prevalent in Africa), protection against asymptomatic infection, duration of protection following first and second dose, immunological correlates of protection, and the roles of other confounders.
