LONDON (AP) — The European Medicines Agency (EMA) said on Friday that even lower doses of the monkeypox vaccine appear to be effective and could increase the current supply by a factor of five, adding that earlier this month the Food and Drug Administration repeated the recommendations made by and the Drug Administration (FDA).
In a statement, the EU medicines regulator said that injecting people with a fifth of the usual dose of the smallpox vaccine produced by Bavarian Nordic would produce levels of antibodies similar to a full dose against monkeypox. said it seems
This approach requires administering Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine by injection just under the skin rather than in deeper tissues, which may stimulate a better immune response. The patient should receive her two doses approximately four weeks apart.
The EMA said national authorities could decide “as a temporary measure” to use lower doses of the vaccine to protect vulnerable populations during the ongoing monkeypox outbreak.
EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the decision would allow for five times the continent’s current supply of vaccines.
“This will allow at-risk citizens and health workers to get more vaccines,” she said in a statement.
Earlier this month, the FDA approved a similar plan to expand the country’s monkeypox vaccine inventory. The technology has previously been used to expand vaccine supplies during other outbreaks such as yellow fever and polio.
Unusual recommendations from both regulatory agencies acknowledge that the global supply of the Jynneos vaccine, originally developed against smallpox, is very limited. Bavarian Nordic is the only company producing it, with about 16 million doses expected to be available this year. On Thursday, the US also announced a new agreement with a manufacturer in Michigan to accelerate production of the 5.5 million vaccine vials recently ordered by the government.
The EMA approved the vaccine in July based on experimental data suggesting efficacy. The World Health Organization estimates that this shot is about 85% effective in preventing monkeypox.
Monkeypox affects more than 40,000 people worldwide, about half of them in Europe. Earlier this week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said there had been a 20% increase in reported cases in the past two weeks, with almost all infections in men who were gay, bisexual, or had sex with other men. said to have been reported.
Tedros said the WHO is in talks with vaccine manufacturers and countries to see if they are willing to share doses.Africa has the highest number of reported deaths from suspected monkeypox. The disease has been endemic in parts of Central and West Africa for decades, but only a small supply of the vaccine has been used as part of research studies.
Approximately 98% of monkeypox cases outside Africa have been reported among men who are gay, bisexual, or have sex with other men. The WHO said a small number of women and children have also contracted the disease, but there are no signs of persistent infection outside of men who have sex with men.
Monkeypox is spread through close physical contact with infected areas, clothing, and bed sheets. Most people recover without needing treatment, but the lesions can be extremely painful and in more severe cases can lead to complications such as brain inflammation and death.
In the UK, which at one point had the largest outbreak outside of Africa, officials said earlier this week they had seen signs that the outbreak was slowing.
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