The European Medicines Agency is reviewing the smallpox vaccine to target monkeys

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Tuesday (June 28) that it had launched a review of the human smallpox vaccine, with a view to expanding use against the monkeypox outbreak in Europe.

The European regulator said that “started a data reviewDanish company Bavara Nordic’s Imvanex vaccine, which has been authorized in the EU since 2013 against smallpox, to include protection in humans against monkeys. The Danish company had not sought permission at the time to use it against monkeypox, which was considered far less dangerous and contagious than its cousin, smallpox, which had been eradicated for more than 40 years.

The EMA did not say when it might make a decision, adding that it was still waiting for a formal authorization request from the manufacturer. “Imvanex stocks are currently very limited in the EU“, however, the EMA noted. Due to supply shortages, European countries should be able to import the American version of Imvanex, called Jynneos, so that it “can be used to provide protection against monkeys in the EU“.

US authorities have already authorized Jynneos to fight monkeys. This review is targetedto support national authorities that may decide to import Jynneos from the US on a temporary basis, given the increased infection rate in the EU“.

The WHO assessed on Saturday that the global monkey outbreak is a health threat whose evolution is very worrying, without currently reaching the stage of a global health emergency. Between June 1 and 22, WHO reported 3,413 confirmed cases and one death in 50 countries, including 2,933 or 86% in Europe. The disease first manifests itself as a high fever and quickly turns into a rash, scales appear. Most often benign, it usually heals on its own after two to three weeks.