Five cases in France, 37 in Portugal, 51 in Spain and 71 in the United Kingdom… Monkeypox is taking hold in Europe and the count of contaminations it generates recalls the beginnings of the Covid-19 health crisis . The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control considered, Monday, May 23, that the probability of contagion in the general population was “very low”.
If “the transmissibility and the risk linked to the virus are not comparable to those of Covid-19”, recalls the spokesperson for the European Commission for health issues, Stefan De Keersmaecker, the public authorities are however vigilant.
In France, the High Authority for Health has come out in favor of vaccination of adults who have had contact with the sick, which is now pushing the Ministry of Health to engage in a vaccination campaign which is being organized throughout the European continent.
The European Commission clarified on Thursday, May 26, that it was coordinating “group purchases of vaccines and other treatments against monkeypox. For this, it is working in coordination with the European organization HERA (Health Emergency Response Authority). ” The exact procedures will be determined with the Member States over the next few days,” said Stefan De Keersmaecker. The vaccination campaign should be limited to a limited and precise population. It should be limited to healthcare personnel and contact cases of patients.
Third-generation smallpox vaccines
If no specific treatment has emerged to stem the disease that appeared about forty years ago in southern Africa, it is the third generation vaccines against smallpox, a cousin of monkeypox, which have been recommended.
Familiar, the two viruses have similarities at the genome level. But the vaccine against smallpox is not easy to obtain. Production of the first and second generation was suspended in the late 1980s after the eradication of the disease following massive vaccination campaigns.
The third-generation vaccine has been marketed since 2013 by Danish biotech company Bavarian Nordic, under the name Imvanex in Europe. Spain has already announced that it intends to acquire this type of vaccine which it wishes to complete with Tecovimat antivirals.
In the rest of the world, the United States has announced that it wants to vaccinate its contact cases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is preparing to distribute smallpox vaccines. For the time being, no other country, apart from Europe and the United States, has delivered a message in this direction. Of the 219 cases identified worldwide, 191 cases are in Europe.