This content was published on June 28, 2022 – 10:28
Brussels, June 28 (EFE).- Spain will receive 5,300 doses of the monkeypox vaccine of the 109,090 acquired by the Health Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) in the first delivery by the European Union (EU), which began this Tuesday, reported the European Commission (EC).
“Shortly after” the deliveries to Spain, “Portugal, Germany and Belgium will be the next receiving countries,” said the Community Executive, which specified that similar operations are planned with other Member States in the course of July and August, indicated the Executive community in a statement.
Dose-sharing “will take place regularly over the coming weeks and months to ensure that all Member States are prepared to respond to the current outbreak of monkeypox, prioritizing the most affected Member States.”
Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said that as of today, the first deliveries of vaccines are arriving in the most affected countries.
“This is a European Health Union that responds in real time to new health threats and protects its citizens. This is the first time that, through our Health Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), we directly buy and donate vaccines to Member States. With HERA up and running, the EU has significantly strengthened its ability to respond and decisively tackle new health threats,” said the Commissioner.
As in the case of vaccines against COVID-19, the vaccine doses are assigned pro rata, according to the population of each country.
Member States with the highest number of monkeypox cases (at the date of conclusion of the contract) have priority for deliveries, as agreed with them.
The vaccines are delivered directly by the pharmaceutical company to the countries.
Since the start of the monkeypox outbreak, HERA, together with other EC services and Member States, has closely followed the evolution of the outbreak in Europe and supported everyone’s preparedness and response efforts.
The purchase and donation of 109,090 vaccines, produced by Bavarian Nordic, “is just one example of the support given to member states,” the Commission said.
It is also the first time that the EU budget has been used, through the EU4Health programme, to directly buy vaccines that will be donated to the countries that make up the Union. EFE
mb/cat/jac
(More information on the European Union at euroefe.euractiv.es)
� EFE 2022. The redistribution and redistribution of all or part of the contents of EFE services is expressly prohibited, without the prior and express consent of Agencia EFE SA
–
