Kuala Lumpur: Former health minister Khairy Jamaluddin has dismissed any concerns that cases of mpox would trigger the next pandemic, citing the World Health Organization’s assessment.
Khairy said that according to WHO, mpox was different from Covid-19 as it was not as transmissible and virulent.
He also said there needed to be more significant contact to contract the virus.
On Aug 14, WHO declared mpox, previously known as monkeypox, a global public health emergency for the second time in two years. It followed an outbreak of the viral infection in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that spread to neighbouring countries.
"I don’t think mpox is presenting itself as an existential or economic risk at the moment," Khairy said during the SIDC Business Foresight Forum 2024 at the Securities Commission today.
He was however "more concerned" about the next virus that is going to be as virulent and transmissible as Covid-19.
He said there is scientific evidence that shows the next pandemic is a legitimate concern as the spread of zoonotic diseases will become more prevalent following mass displacement of animals.
Covid is a zoonotic disease, which means it originated from animals before it infected humans.
"I was told by scientists that there are tens of thousands of animal-borne diseases that could infect (humans)," he said.
On Aug 20, FMT quoted a virologist who played down concerns that the spread of the mpox virus would lead to a health crisis similar to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Amir Yunus of Universiti Sains Malaysia said mpox is more stable than the coronavirus, and not prone to the same kind of rapid mutations that made Covid-19 so deadly.
Yesterday, deputy health minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni said there were no recent cases of mpox in Malaysia. Thailand, however, reported a suspected first case of the new more dangerous strain of mpox.
Separately, Khairy lamented that Malaysia and other countries have become less vigilant in taking precautionary measures to handle the next global healthcare crisis.
"The government-created labs to invent and test vaccines have grown quiet over the last two years," he said.
Similarly, there has been no update from a committee set up by the World Economic Forum to create vaccine manufacturing sites in the global south with funding provided by developed countries.
"We have not seen significant implementation of these measures," he said.
