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The European Commission has approved the extension of a vaccine from the pharmaceutical group Bavarian Nordic against the spread of monkey pox, the Danish laboratory announced on Monday. The green light from Brussels follows that of the European regulator, the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which had given its agreement on Friday to the extension to monkeypox of the Imvanex vaccine, already authorized since 2013 in the European Union against human smallpox.
WHO’s highest level of alert
It also comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) chose on Saturday to trigger its highest level of alert over the surge in cases. These exceeded the 16,000 mark at the end of last week, the majority of them in Europe.
The green light from the Commission is valid in all member countries of the European Union as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, specifies the group.
The Imvanex vaccine is marketed as Jynneos in the United States, where it has been licensed against monkeypox since 2019. This makes it the only licensed vaccine for the prevention of the disease.
First detected in humans in 1970, monkeypox is less dangerous and contagious than its cousin human smallpox, eradicated in 1980. Contracted by close contact, it usually heals on its own after two or three weeks.