Europe considers 'dose sparing' to increase monkeypox vaccine, WHO calls for trials

LONDON—European health officials are voicing global concerns over whether to follow the US move to boost supplies of the scarce monkeypox vaccine. We are talking to health authorities. Organizations that want more data.

There were 27,800 monkeypox cases worldwide this year, mostly among men who have sex with men, and 12 died.

According to WHO and other government health agencies, it is the only vaccine licensed to prevent monkeypox and is a key part of the global public health response. supply of shots is in short supply.

On Tuesday, the United States announced that a single vial of the vaccine could be used to inject small amounts between layers of the skin, allowing up to five individual doses instead of a single dose. supported doing The vaccine was designed to be injected into the fat layer under the skin.

This so-called "weight-loss" approach has been tried before with other vaccines, including polio and yellow fever, but there is limited evidence whether it works against monkeypox.

"The European Medicines Agency (EMA) will discuss potential dose-conserving approaches," an EMA spokesperson told Reuters, adding that regulators are asking manufacturers, the Nordic countries of Bavaria, and European countries to He added that he will discuss strategy with

The company did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

vaccine use," a spokesperson told Reuters in an email.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, data collected in a 2015 clinical study https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X15008762?via%3Dihub showed that dose sparing works without compromising vaccine safety and efficacy. rice field.

Meanwhile, some European governments are taking other steps to expand existing supplies. For example, the UK is offering only one shot of a two-dose regimen to those most at risk as a temporary measure to provide more people with at least some protection.

It is unclear whether either approach provides adequate protection against monkeypox, which usually presents with flu-like symptoms and characteristic pus-filled skin lesions.

This viral disease has been endemic in parts of Africa for decades, and in May of this year it became the first was reported to

Adam Finn, a professor at the University of Bristol who works with WHO Europe to provide advice on monkeypox immunization campaigns, said, "Vaccine stock-outs are very real due to monkeypox epidemics. potential concern." (Reporting by Jennifer Rigby and Natalie Grover, Editing by David Gregorio)