HAS has proposed that the vaccination of children exposed to the virus can be considered on a case-by-case basis, in particular for “the most fragile and the immunocompromised”.
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New guidelines for monkeypox cases. The High Authority for Health (HAS) recommended, Monday, June 20, to administer a single dose of vaccine to people who are contacts at risk and vaccinated against smallpox before 1980, except for immunocompromised people. In addition, she proposed that the vaccination of children exposed to the virus and likely to develop a severe form of the disease could be considered and assessed on a case-by-case basis.
In May, the HAS recommended vaccinating adults at high risk of monkeypox. It was then called upon by the Ministry of Health to specify the vaccination strategy to be implemented around a confirmed case of monkeypox for two population groups: first-time vaccinators, i.e. people vaccinated against smallpox in childhood, and children.
The High Authority therefore recommended the administration of a single dose of the Imvanex (Bavarian Nordic) vaccine for at-risk contact persons who had received smallpox vaccination with a first-generation vaccine before 1980, according to its opinion published on Monday. In the particular case where at-risk contacts are immunocompromised, previous vaccination with another smallpox vaccine does not modify the schedule initially recommended for this population, ie three doses of Imvanex.
For children and adolescents, several studies on other vaccines using the same platform as Imvanex, at higher doses, have demonstrated good tolerance in children over 4 months old, underlined the HAS. But the Imvanex vaccine is currently only authorized for adults. This is why the High Authority has recommended that reactive vaccination of children who are contacts at risk “may be considered, to protect children exposed and possibly more likely to develop severe forms of the disease, in particular the most fragile and immunocompromised”.
However, in the absence of clinical data on the safety of third-generation vaccines, HAS recommended that vaccination of people under 18 “be considered on a case-by-case basis, by specialists alone and after a strict assessment of the benefits and risks for the minor concerned”.