The European Union's medicines regulator has recommended expanding the label of a vaccine to include protection against monkeypox, paving the way for expanded access to the shot.
The shot label of Bavarian Nordic should protect against monkeypox as well.
The company behind the shot said the European Medicines Agency had adopted a positive opinion and recommended it include protection against monkeypox.
The vaccine can be used against monkeypox in the US and Canada, but not in Europe.
The regulator asked the company to submit more data in order to expand its market authorization.
The European Commission will make a final decision on whether to allow marketing in different EU countries after the European Medicines Agency recommends it.
The Commission will make a binding decision within 67 days of receiving the recommendation and if authorized, Bavarian Nordic will be able to market the vaccine in all 27 EU member states.
The extension of the vaccine's label will help to improve access to the vaccine throughout Europe and strengthen the future readiness against monkeypox.
A total of 10,604. Data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization show how many cases of monkeypox have been identified in the European region. Almost all cases, 99.5%, were reported by men. There were no reports of deaths.
There are few options for treating monkeypox, a disease that has been spreading in parts of Western and Central Africa for decades. Effective vaccines and treatments exist for the monkeypox virus, which is closely related to the eradication of the disease. These likely work against monkeypox as well and have been deployed to help maintain the outbreak, though "off label" use can make it harder to widen access.
Efforts to control the monkeypox have been hampered by the shortage of Bavarian Nordic's shot. Poorer countries, notably the African nations where monkeypox has spread for years, are struggling to get a hold of any doses and wealthier nations that have been able to secure supplies are facing shortages as they wait months for them to be delivered. The fast-spreading outbreak has experts and health officials looking at ways to get as many first doses into high-risk people as quickly as possible. The World Health Organization says there have been more than 15,000 cases of monkeypox around the world so far this year.
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