EU proposes to lead MPox vaccine donations – Euractiv

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EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides has contacted EU health ministers, offering to coordinate more donations of mpox vaccines and therapeutics to the affected regions in the coming months.

The European Commission will manage these through the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Agency (HERA). The donation to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa DCD) was made through what Kyriakides called the “tried and tested Team Europe approach” that was successfully used during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Many countries are being cautious about their vaccine stocks and assessing their needs before committing to donations.

France is closely monitoring the epidemic and has set up 232 vaccination sites. French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal estimated that France could donate 100,000 doses of vaccine and said: “Such solidarity would strengthen Europe’s current anti-epidemic efforts by nearly 50%.”

But not all EU countries can contribute. A Czech official told European Events that the country “cannot participate in these vaccine donation schemes.” The country says it needs to maintain enough vaccine stocks to cover high-risk groups.

But the Czech Ministry of Health fully supports HERA’s donation plan to the Africa CDC.

Likewise, Greece’s national public health organization EODY told Euractiv Greece that given its limited vaccine supply of just 3,500 doses, enough for about 100 people, it “will not participate in any donation schemes at this time.”

Vaccine manufacturer Bavarian Nordic Announce On Wednesday (August 21), it was revealed that an unnamed European country had ordered 440,000 doses of the vaccine.

Better value

Swedish National Radio Reported Today (August 23) Sweden developed a way to inject the mpox vaccine into the skin rather than under the skin, meaning a person only needs a fifth of the original vaccine dose.

According to the professor, the method is already in use in the Swedish health service, and both the World Health Organization and the Africa CDC have shown interest. Anna-Mia EkstromHe is an expert in global infectious disease epidemiology and chairs the World Health Organization’s vaccine distribution group.

Unity

Kyriakides called on ministers to demonstrate “global solidarity and cooperation” and called for coordinated and sustained action to help the countries worst affected by the pandemic.

“Will we choose to build systems to control and eliminate MPox worldwide? Or will we enter another cycle of panic and neglect?” Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, asked reporters on August 20. Emphasize the need More sustained support and solidarity with Africa,

Renowned medical journal The Lancet calls on the international community to coordinate its response editorial And warned that “We are facing yet another unfair scramble for a vaccine, and just like with COVID-19, health will suffer if the world fails to reach a binding and fair pandemic agreement.”