• Sunday, 30 June 2024

EU starts delivering monkeypox vaccines to member countries

EU starts delivering monkeypox vaccines to member countries
The European Commission announced is starting to deliver jointly purchased monkeypox vaccines to member states, the bloc announced on Tuesday. Spain is receiving the first 5,300 of the 109,090 procured doses, according to a press statement. "As of today, the first deliveries of vaccines in response to the monkeypox outbreak are arriving to the most affected countries," EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in the statement. Portugal, German and Belgium are next in line to receive monkeypox vaccines. "Further deliveries to additional member states will take place in the course of July and August," the statement reads. The doses were purchased through the EU’s Health Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) which has been set up in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic to better respond to public health emergencies. The doses are divided among EU countries based on their population size, with priority being given to the worst-affected countries. So far, 2,682 cases of monkeypox have been reported in the EU, Norway and Iceland since May 18, according to the European Commission.