“We are, obviously, prepared from a technical and laboratory point of view”, said Fernando de Almeida in response to the question about whether Portugal will follow the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Fernando de Almeida did not say whether or not Portugal will follow the recommendations of the WHO, which, for example, suggested vaccinating pregnant women to protect babies against the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), but said he is always in line with this entity.

“We are the reference laboratory for the entire area of ​​epidemiology, especially associated with the laboratory and diagnostic aspects, so we are always in contact with the WHO and in line with all its guidelines,” he said.

The chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA) said that this was “the first institute in the world to perform the complete genome sequencing of mpox” and referred specific measures to the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

“These guidelines apply not only to the Ricardo Jorge Institute, in the laboratory area but also to the Directorate-General for Health, which is monitoring the RSV virus,” he said.

This week WHO immunisation experts recommended vaccinating pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy to protect newborns against the respiratory syncytial virus.

This is one of the recommendations of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) that emerged from the biannual meeting on vaccination strategies to prevent infectious diseases, which took place last week.

According to Hanna Nohynek, the efficacy studies already carried out demonstrate the safety of maternal vaccination and the experts' recommendation took into account the risks and benefits of this immunization of pregnant women.

For countries that decide to adopt maternal vaccination, SAGE recommends a single dose of the vaccine to be administered in the third trimester of pregnancy, between 24 and 36 weeks of gestation, which has been shown to be effective in preventing serious diseases associated with RSV in newborns.

According to the WHO, RSV infection causes a substantial burden of serious lower respiratory tract infections, with an estimated 97% of related mortality occurring in low- and middle-income countries, with more than 100,000 deaths annually in children under five years of age.

As for mpox, it belongs to the same family of viruses as smallpox and was initially called “monkeypox”.

It is a viral disease that is transmitted from animals to humans, but can also be transmitted between humans through prolonged physical contact, causing fever, chills, muscle pain and skin lesions. It can sometimes be fatal. People with more severe cases can develop lesions on the face, hands, chest and genitals.

On 14 August, the WHO Emergency Committee for mpox declared the situation to be a public health emergency of international concern.