Spain will acquire doses of Imvanex vaccine and the antiviral Tecovirimat to stop the current outbreak of monkeypox, which has already spread to twenty countries, within the number and deadlines set by the European Authority for Preparedness and Response to Health Emergencies (IVY).
The information was explained by the Minister of Health, Carolina Dariasat the press conference after the Interterritorial Council of the National Health System in which he transferred this decision to the councilors.
It is HERA, which met this morning, “which will make medicines available to the Member States”. And it is this authority “that is in contact with the Danish company (Bavarian Nordic) and it will be the one who will establish the deadlines and the doses will be distributed proportionally”, as happened with those of covid, which were distributed according to the population, “because it is about access in an equitable way” in “limited” doses, he underlined.
The specific vaccine to be purchased is Imvanex, authorized by the European Medicines Agency (EMAby its acronym in English) in 2013 and by FDA in 2019 and which in the US is marketed under the name Jynneos, a formula developed by Bavarian Nordic, which could protect from smallpox in humans by 85%based on experience with vaccines used prior to smallpox eradication.
The antiviral is Tecovirimat SIGA, which has a mode of action on the spread of the viral particle in the body that limits and prevents it, thus delaying the spread of infection, and is authorized to treat smallpox, monkeypox and cowpox.
Possible vaccination strategies
The next step, specified the minister, is the strategy that will be applied, something that is already being studied by the vaccine report; In this regard, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) warned last week that “if smallpox vaccines are available in the country, high risk close contacts should be considered after a risk-benefit study”.
The Carlos III Health Institute (ISC III) detected, of the 100 samples it analyzed, a total of 59 positive cases of orthopoxvirus, of which 20 were confirmed by sequencing as smallpox and the rest are awaiting results. In addition, it ruled out 41 who tested negative for smallpox and other orthopoxviruses.
The director of this organization, Christopher Beldaexplained that almost one hundred percent of confirmed cases are of the West African variant, which is more benign than the central one.