FDA endorses Bavarian Nordic's monkeypox vaccine, marking world's first approval

In 2003, scientists traced the monkeypox virus to a patient’s pet prairie dog in Marshfield, Wisconsin. Altogether, forty-seven confirmed and probable cases of monkeypox were reported from six US states — marking the first instance that an outbreak was recorded outside of Africa, after a shipment of 800 small mammals from Ghana were imported to Texas. On Tuesday, the first vaccine for the disease — which can be fatal — was approved by the FDA.