July 27, 2022 – Indonesia Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said that the smallpox vaccine can provide protection from monkeypox. It’s because monkeypox is the same type as smallpox.
Budi then clarified that people who have the smallpox vaccine have antibodies against smallpox for the rest of their life.
“This [monkeypox] is in the same genus or type as smallpox. I’ve been told by professionals that if we had smallpox vaccine before if I’m not mistaken until those who were born in the 1970s, basically who was born around that time like me, elderly, we have the immunity,” said Budi in Raffles Hotel Jakarta on Tuesday (22/7).
Furthermore, he added that smallpox is different from Covid-19, which needs to take a new vaccine every six months. Smallpox vaccination is for life thus, those who have been vaccinated are actually relatively protected.
Budi also clarified that the spread of monkeypox is different from Covid-19. As it is known, Covid-19 can be transmitted before the patient has any symptoms, it can even be transmitted by patients without symptoms (OTG) too. On the other hand, monkeypox can only spread once the patient has shown symptoms of it.
WHO has officially announced monkeypox as a global emergency after it has spread over 75 countries. WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has noted down that there are more than 16 thousand monkeypox cases reported by 75 countries. So far, there have been five deaths due to monkeypox.
Monkeypox Symptoms
One of the characteristics that differentiate monkeypox from other smallpox is the development of swollen lymph nodes. It usually appears in 7 to 14 days, but also can happen between 5 to 21 days after being infected.
Some of the symptoms of monkeypox are fever, headache, muscle strain, back pain, swollen lymph nodes, and fatigue.
After the patient has a fever for 1 to 3 days, the rash will start showing up. Usually, it starts on the face and then spreads to other parts of the body.
