THE EU’S MEDICINES agency has recommended that smallpox vaccines be used against monkeypox, which has continued to spread around the world.

In a statement, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) said that its human medicines committee “has recommended extending the indication of the smallpox vaccine Imvanex to include protecting adults from monkeypox disease”.

Imvanex has been approved in the EU since 2013 for the prevention of smallpox and has been considered as a vaccine for monkeypox because of the similarity between the monkeypox virus and the smallpox virus.

More than 15,000 cases of the virus have been reported by 71 countries in a surge since early May outside of west and central Africa.

Monkeypox is a viral infection resembling smallpox that was first detected in humans in 1970, but is less dangerous and contagious than smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980.

A World Health Organisation committee convened yesterday to discuss whether it should classify the outbreak as a global health emergency but has not made its conclusions public yet.

Many of the cases have been transmitted among gay and bisexual men, with WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying there is a “very real concern that men who have sex with men could be stigmatised or blamed for the outbreak, making the outbreak much harder to track, and to stop”. 

Earlier this month, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly received Cabinet approval to enter into a Donation Contract with the European Commission to receive a supply of Modified Vaccinia Ankara against monkeypox (with the commercial name Jynneos).

The HSE entered into a bilateral contract with Bavarian Nordic for the supply of smallpox vaccine Imvanex for off label-use against the infection.

Ireland also secured an additional supply of vaccines against monkeypox that were procured centrally by the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).

The vaccines were allocated to member states according to population size.

ACT UP Dublin, a campaign group fighting to end the HIV crisis, has called on health officials to take immediate action to make vaccines available to those most at risk of contracting monkeypox.

Related Reads

HSE to take delivery of vaccines to combat monkeypox and may roll out vaccination programme

“The current strain spreading amongst gay and bisexual men in Ireland is not thought to be life-threatening in most cases, however those infected with the virus may experience unpleasant and painful symptoms including fever, exhaustion and painful lesions which can occur anywhere on the body,” ACT UP Dublin said in a statement this week.

“While the HSE has supported information campaigns coordinated through the MPower programme at HIV Ireland, there has been no communication around any targeted rollout of vaccinations in Ireland,” it said.

“Across the UK, North America and other European countries, vaccination has been available for specific groups including gay and bisexual men who are at particular risk.”

Additional reporting by AFP