The major medical regulator of the European Union EMA recommended expanding the usage of the smallpox vaccine Imvanex to include protection against monkeypox, Forbes reported on Friday.
The vaccine manufacturer said that EMA expressed a “positive opinion” and recommended the company’s smallpox vaccine as a vaccine for Monkeypox.
Branded as Jynneos and Imvamune, the vaccine is approved for use against monkeypox only in the US, and Canada however, it is only authorized for use against smallpox in Europe.
The company said that EMA asked it to submit more data regarding the expansion of its usage in light of the surge in Monkeypox cases.
The World Health Organization (WHO) decided during its second meeting on Monkeypox, on Thursday, to not announce the virus as a public health emergency regardless of the latest rise in infections.
WHO Director Tedros Ghebreyesus said that the decision involved “the consideration of many factors, with the ultimate goal of protecting public health”.
He revealed in his opening remarks that the committee participated in “[delineating] the dynamics of this outbreak.”
“As the outbreak develops, it’s important to assess the effectiveness of public health interventions in different settings, to better understand what works, and what doesn’t”.
More than 14,000 cases were detected in 71 this year, according to the WHO, in addition, Tedros announced that six countries reported their first cases last week.
“This transmission pattern represents both an opportunity to implement targeted public health interventions, and a challenge because in some countries, the communities affected face life-threatening discrimination.”
The meeting was the second for the emergency committee.
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