EU approves smallpox vaccine to use against monkeypox
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Approval of Imvanex comes after the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the spread of monkeypox a global health emergency, prompting the European Union’s executive body to approve a smallpox vaccine for use against the disease, as per Nytimes.
“The European Commission has extended the marketing authorization for the company’s smallpox vaccine, Imvanex, to include protection from monkeypox” in line with a recommendation by the EU’s medicines watchdog, Bavarian Nordic said in a statement on Monday.
“The approval … is valid in all European Union Member States as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.”
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) evaluates medicines medically and recommendations made regarding whether or not they should be marketed.
However, the EMA lacks the authority required by EU law to actually approve marketing in the various EU member states. The authorizing body, the European Commission, bases its legally binding decision on the EMA’s recommendation.
The high demand for the monkeypox vaccine has caused a 122 percent increase in Bavarian’s share price over the last three months.
Chief Executive Officer Paul Chaplin said the availability of an approved vaccine “can significantly improve nations’ readiness to fight emerging diseases, but only through investments and structured planning of the biological preparedness”.
The WHO issued the highest level of alert on Saturday, designating the monkeypox outbreak, which has afflicted approximately 16,000 individuals in 75 countries, as a “public health emergency of international concern.”
Since 2013, Imvanex has been authorized in the EU for use in smallpox prevention.
Due to smallpox and the monkeypox virus, it was also thought to be a viable vaccination for monkeypox.
Smallpox was eradicated in 1980, but monkeypox is less harmful and contagious.
Over the course of five days, fever, headaches, muscle pain, and back pain are the initial signs of monkeypox.
Then, lesions, spots, and eventually scabs occur on the face, hands, and feet after rashes first show up there.
Since early May, there has been an increase in monkeypox cases outside of the West and Central African nations where the illness has long been endemic.
