After the European Medicines Agency, the European Commission has given its agreement to the extension of this vaccine against human smallpox to the fight against the variolate of the monkey. The latter has been authorized in the United States since 2019 against the variole of the monkey.
Le Monde with AFP
While the World Health Organization (WHO) sparked its highest alert level on Saturday in the face of the virulence of the monkey’s variole epidemic, the European Commission approved the extension of a vaccine From the Bavarian Nordic pharmaceutical group against the propagation of the virus, the Danish laboratory announced on Monday 25 July
The authorization of Brussels follows that of the European regulator, the European Medicines Agency (AEM), which had given its agreement on Friday to the extension to the variolate of the monkey of the Imvansne vaccine, already authorized since 2013 in the European Union (EU) against human smallpox.
It also occurs after the choice of WHO, this weekend, to use only for the seventh time in its history at its highest level of health alert, supposed to trigger a whole series of actions from member countries . At the end of the week, there were more than 16,000 cases, including a majority on the European continent.
a vaccine already used in the United States against the variole of the monkey
“This approval for the variety of the monkey is an example of good cooperation between Bavarian Nordic and European regulators; an extension of employment normally taking between six to nine months”, welcomed the Danish manufacturer in a press release. The green light from the Commission is valid in all EU member countries as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, specifies the group.
The Imvansne vaccine is marketed under the name of Jynneos in the United States, where it has an authorization against the variole of the monkey since 2019. This makes it the only vaccine approved in the prevention of the disease.
Bavarian Nordic had announced a new large American order in mid-July, bringing the number of doses ordered in the United States to 7 million. An order of 1.5 million doses by an unidentified European country was also mentioned last week.
Detected for the first time in humans in 1970, the variole of the monkey is less dangerous and contagious than its cousin the human smallpox, eradicated in 1980. Contracted by near contact, it generally heals at the end of two or three weeks.
The disease, which was so far only endemic in some African countries, is characterized by rashes – which can appear on the genitals or in the mouth – can be accompanied by fever pushes, ailments of throat or pain in terms of lymph nodes.
In most cases, patients are men with sex with men, relatively young, but WHO has vigorously warned against any stigma.