Pharmacist and Research Fellow at the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), Kwame Sarpong Asiedu, says the smallpox vaccine is effective against the monkeypox disease.

According to him, the smallpox vaccine has the ability to help the body develop immunity against the monkeypox as well.

"The smallpox vaccine is effective against monkeypox," he stressed.

Speaking on the JoyFM's Super Morning Show, on Thursday, June 9, he noted that this makes it easier to control the disease compared to the Covid-19 pandemic which had no cure, or vaccine, whatsoever at the time it broke out.

He was contributing to discussions on monkeypox, following reports from the Ghana Health Service that the country has recorded its first cases.

Currently, five cases of monkeypox have been confirmed in the Eastern, Bono, and Greater Accra regions, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) says.

One of the cases was recorded in a Ghanaian who traveled to the United States of America from Ghana.

According to the Director-General of the Service, Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, the cases were identified through the testing of 12 suspected cases, including one case that was reported from the Western Region.

Following the country's first five cases, Kwame Sarpong Asiedu has entreated the public to strictly observe the preventive protocols.

"More education and more awareness is the way forward rather than being too anxious that the disease has come. We need to go into the preventative mindset again. Sanitise, wear masks, wash your hands, and avoid crowded places," he stated.