Children exposed to confirmed mpox cases during a national outbreak require post-exposure prophylaxis

What was found

• No serious adverse events or mpox disease occurred in any of the 87 vaccinated children
• 36% of respondents reported no symptoms, 40% reported local reactions only, and 24% reported systemic symptoms
• All children developed poxvirus IgG antibodies with mean absorbances of 1.380 at 6 weeks and 0.9826 at 15 weeks, well above the protective cutoff of 0.1926
• All children developed robust and balanced CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses that were retained at 15 weeks post-vaccination

Who it was tested with: 87 children in England exposed to confirmed mpox cases during a 2022 outbreak; median age 5 years (IQR 5–9), 56% male, 49% White.