India working on developing mpox vaccine

A day after state government guidelines were issued for responding to mpox cases, Adar Poonawalla, CEO of Serum Institute of India (SII), announced the company is developing a vaccine against the disease with hopes for a "positive outcome" within a year, reports The Economic Times.

"In view of the global health emergency declared due to the Mpox outbreak, SII is working on developing a vaccine for this disease to cater to millions of lives that might be at risk. Hopefully, we will have more updates and positive news to share within a year's time," Poonawalla said.

The National Institute of Virology (NIV) in Pune has become the leading medical institution in India, where mpox research is conducted since 2022, when 30 cases of the disease were reported in the country, TASS reports.

Earlier this week, the Indian government ordered heightened alert at the country's borders. In airports, seaports, and at the border with Bangladesh and Pakistan, the inspection of foreigners coming to India has been tightened due to the disease.

After the World Health Organization’s mpox outbreak statement in July 2022, the last case of mpox in India was reported in March 2024. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office informed, now there are no people with mpox in the country.

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