The European Commission announced this Wednesday the purchase of an additional 170,920 doses of monkeypox vaccines to meet “immediate needs” of the Member States with a batch that will be available for delivery “before the end of the year”.
With this purchase of third-generation vaccines from the Bavarian Nordic laboratory, the number of doses acquired by the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) rises to 334,540, which will be distributed among member countries that request it based on a proportional distribution key.
The Community Executive negotiates the purchase agreements through the European Health Agency (HaDEA), they are financed with funds from the European Union budget.
The vaccines are then “donated” to the Member States, which receive the doses based on their population but giving priority to the countries most affected by the outbreak, including Spain, which was one of the first members to receive a batch of vaccines at the beginning of the summer.
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“Although we have seen the number of monkeypox cases in the European Union decrease in recent weeks, the threat has not passed and we cannot lower our guard. We must keep up the efforts to protect the population, especially the most vulnerable”, reasoned the Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides.
Brussels recalls in a statement that to meet the medium-term needs of the Member States, HERA launched joint procedures for the acquisition of additional vaccines and therapeutic products.