If so, and should it result in an emergency declaration in the UK, then “NO” is going to become a very important word!
In a tweet on the 8th August, the Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, advised that he was convening the Emergency Committee (EC) (under the International Health Regulations (IHR)) on Wednesday 14th August 2024 in relation to the “upsurge” of mpox.
On Saturday 10th August 2024, a WHO Media Advisory (thank you James Roguski) stated that the meeting will be virtual and “closed” (i.e. not open to the public) and will commence at 12:00pm CEST. The Media Advisory went on to state:
“The EC will provide its views to the WHO Director-General on whether the event constitutes a public health emergency of international concern – and, if so, it will advise on the temporary recommendations proposed by the WHO Director-General on how better to prevent and reduce the spread of the disease and manage the global heath public response.”
It is worth noting that the WHO has recently invited “mpox manufacturers to submit dossiers for emergency evaluation” (you can read more about this here) and that mpox PCR tests are already available for use.
The WHO’s Emergency Use Listing (which can be read in full here) contains the following language (emphasis our own):
“The WHO Emergency Use Listing Procedure (EUL) (formerly the Emergency Use Assessment and Listing procedure (EUAL)) is a risk-based procedure for assessing and listing in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) (as well as medicines and vaccines) that have not (yet) undergone stringent regulatory assessment and that are intended for use primarily during public health emergencies of international concern (PHEICs), or in other public health emergencies. During such times communities and public health authorities may be willing to tolerate less certainty about the quality, safety and performance of products, given the morbidity and/or mortality of the disease, and the need for diagnostics.”
Between 2007 and 2020, six events have been declared a public health event of international concern (PHEIC): 2009 H1N1; 2013 -2015 Ebola (West African outbreak); 2018-2020 Ebola (Democratic Republic of Congo outbreak); 2014 – present Poliomyelitis; 2016 Zika; and 2020 – 2023 Covid 19.
We will have to wait to find out if mpox is going to be the seventh event declared by the Director General as a PHEIC and, if so, what action the UK government will take in response. (The Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 and the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 are the source of the government’s emergency powers in the UK).
Finally, remember the goal in the UK is Digital ID. A gateway to Digital ID is the “vaccine passport” (already under trial in five European countries and used to create a two-tier society during “Covid”).
