The European Commission and the Danish laboratory Bavarian Nordic announced on Tuesday the conclusion of a contract for the purchase of more than 100,000 doses of vaccine once morest monkeypox, detected in 19 Member States as well as in Norway and Iceland.
The agreement covers the supply of 109,090 doses of vaccines on behalf of European countries, the Commission said in a press release. It is inspired by the group purchases of anti-Covid vaccines but concerns much smaller quantities. Marketed under the name Imvanex in Europe, Jynneos in the United States and Imvamune in Canada, it is a 3rd generation vaccine (non-replicating live vaccine, i.e. not replicating not in the human body) authorized in Europe since 2013 and indicated once morest smallpox in adults.
The European medicines regulator (EMA) announced in early June that it had started discussions with Bavarian Nordic to possibly extend its use once morest monkeypox. This disease is most often benign but its spread outside endemic areas, mainly in Europe, remains a source of concern. It first results in a high fever and quickly evolves into a rash, with the formation of scabs. The European Center for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended early post-exposure vaccination to prevent the disease or make its development less serious, recalls Brussels.
Purchased on behalf of the new Hera health authority, created in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the vaccines will be made available to the Twenty-Seven as well as to Norway and Iceland, with first deliveries of by the end of the month for the priority countries, specifies the Commission. Some 900 cases have been reported since May 18 in European countries, according to the Commission. The amount of the contract was not disclosed.
According to the WHO, as of June 8, the number of confirmed cases of this disease amounted to nearly 1,300 worldwide in non-endemic countries. A less dangerous cousin of smallpox, eradicated for regarding forty years, monkeypox is endemic in 11 West African countries and in Central Africa.
The European Commission and the Danish laboratory Bavarian Nordic announced on Tuesday the conclusion of a contract for the purchase of more than 100,000 doses of vaccine once morest monkeypox, detected in 19 Member States as well as in Norway and Iceland.
The agreement concerns the supply of 109,090 doses of vaccines on behalf of European countries, specifies the Commission in a…