MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish health authorities approved a new monkeypox vaccination strategy on Monday (August 22nd), allowing more people to be vaccinated with lower doses amid tight supplies, the official said. Ministry of Health in a press release.
Each dose of Bavarian Nordic’s Imvanex vaccine, the only monkeypox vaccine currently available, will be divided into five doses, except for pregnant women and immunocompromised people, the ministry said.
With the new strategy, Spain is following in the footsteps of Britain, which also approved the use of lower doses of the monkeypox vaccine on Monday, following the decision of the European Medicines Agency last week to allow “dose sparing”.
On Monday, Spain received an additional 5,000 doses of the vaccine, bringing the total received to more than 17,000 doses.
Spain is among the countries most affected by the disease, recording more than 6,119 cases of monkeypox since May.
Worldwide, more than 40,000 cases have been reported in 80 non-endemic countries.