There is no need to roll out mass vaccination for monkeypox in South Africa.

This is the assertion by experts at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

Despite the virus being detected in European countries and in the United States, South Africa has not recorded any positive cases of the monkeypox virus – a rare skin disease similar to small pox that is transmitted from animals to humans.

Executive Director for the NICD Adrian Puren says the use of vaccines should prioritised for other infections that are more highly pathogenic or deadly.

The monkey pox variant in the current outbreak only has a fatality rate of around one percent.