The EU has adopted a similar approach in the procurement of coronavirus vaccine. Supporters said that the centralized procurement of smallpox vaccine would enable less affluent EU Member States to obtain tools to fight the epidemic. According to the financial times, people familiar with the matter said that EU officials are considering collecting smallpox vaccine to prevent the increasing number of monkeypox infections in Europe.
According to the World Health Organization (who), the effectiveness of smallpox vaccine in the prevention of monkeypox is as high as 85%. Smallpox was declared eradicated in 1980, but vaccine reserves have been maintained to prevent the virus from "resurgence".
"The European Commission is definitely studying what can be done. Centralized procurement is one of the options, but countries can also start preparing vaccines," Andrea Ammon, director of the European Center for disease prevention and control, told the financial times on Tuesday
Ammon said it was not clear how much smallpox vaccine was available in Europe, but she added: "this is certainly not as large a population level as the COVID-19."
Multinational procurement of smallpox vaccine
The World Health Organization said that as of May 22 local time, 131 confirmed cases and 92 suspected cases had been reported to 16 non monkeypox endemic countries and regions.
Bavarian Nordic, a Danish drugmaker and manufacturer of smallpox vaccine, has risen about 55% since the number of monkeypox cases in Europe began to increase on May 19.
According to the financial times, Paul Chaplin, CEO of Bavarian Nordic, said that the EU had contacted the company on the vaccine to be used throughout the EU, but had not yet negotiated. In addition, the company is negotiating with several EU countries, and is also discussing the vaccine procurement plan with the Centers for Disease Control and prevention of the United States and who and other health organizations.
The Spanish Ministry of health has begun to approve the purchase of traditional smallpox vaccine to deal with monkeypox. According to Spain's "El Pais" on May 19, the Spanish Ministry of health plans to buy Bavarian Nordic's "imvanex" vaccine to prevent a possible outbreak of monkeypox.
EU considers centralized procurement
The European Commission said on Monday that the European health emergency preparedness and response authority (Hera) is maintaining close contact with Member States, the European Medicines Agency and international experts to ensure access to tools to deal with monkeypox outbreaks.
The European Commission added: "Hera stands ready to undertake procurement to address challenges related to the supply and distribution of medical responses and to increase storage capacity to avoid shortages and bottlenecks in deployment."
The EU has adopted a similar approach in the procurement of coronavirus vaccine. Supporters said that the centralized procurement of smallpox vaccine would enable less affluent EU Member States to obtain tools to fight the epidemic.