The European Commission said it has received more than 10,000 more tecovirimat vaccines against the infection, despite the declining number of monkeypox cases in the European Union (EU).
The commission said on Monday that the union has already purchased 334,000 vaccines, Xinhua news agency reported.
Funded by the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) to treat urgently needed patients in EU member states.
European Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said the decline in the number of monkeypox cases in the European Union is “relief news”, but it does not mean that the threat is over. The EU must continue to focus on preparedness.
Meanwhile, Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarčič said monkeypox is one of the threats identified as part of the Rescue Strategy Reserve. These batches of monkeypox antivirals will provide an additional level of protection for our citizens.
He further said, the stock would be available to the member countries on an urgent-need basis.
According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, there have been 19,827 confirmed cases from 29 EU countries since the start of the monkeypox outbreak. In which 47 cases have been reported from three Western Balkan countries and Turkey.
Talking about other countries, there have been 7,083 cases of monkeypox in Spain, 3,897 in France, 3,570 in Germany, 1,221 in Netherlands and 845 in Portugal.
At the same time, 3 patients have died due to monkeypox in Spain, 1 in Belgium and 1 in the Czech Republic.
