HERA purchases over 170,000 additional monkeypox vaccines with EU funds

HERA, the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority, has secured an additional 170,920 doses of monkeypox vaccines with EU funds.

The news of HERA purchasing further monkeypox vaccines with EU funds was announced by Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, on her official Twitter account:

While 🇪🇺 #Monkeypox cases have been decreasing over the past weeks, we must continue our efforts to be prepared to protect our citizens.

➡️#HERA has purchased over 170 000 additional vaccine doses with EU funds for Member States urgent needs. This is our #HealthUnion in action. pic.twitter.com/Gst8SSaRgy

— Stella Kyriakides (@SKyriakidesEU) September 7, 2022

Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Stella Kyriakides, stated:

“While we have seen the number of monkeypox cases decreasing in the EU over the past weeks, the threat has not passed, and we cannot let down our guard.”

“We must continue to keep up the pace of our efforts to protect our citizens, especially the most vulnerable. Preparedness is key to respond swiftly to health emergencies. With HERA, the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority, we have purchased an additional 170,920 vaccine doses for Member States.”

“This brings the total number of doses secured for Member States for urgent needs to over 330,000. This is HERA, a core pillar of our European Health Union, delivering on its mandate to protect our citizens.”

The purchase of Bavarian Nordic’s 3rd generation vaccine to respond to the ongoing monkeypox outbreak and to meet the more immediate needs.

This brings the total number of doses directly purchased by the EU to 334,540 for Member States.

These additional doses will be available for delivery before the end of the year. Meanwhile, the EU-funded monkeypox vaccines already purchased continue to be delivered over the coming weeks and months to EU Member States, Norway, and Iceland.

Furthermore, to meet Member States’ medium-term needs, HERA launched joint procurement procedures for additional vaccines as well as for therapeutics.

These actions, combined with EMA’s advice on the intradermal use of the monkeypox vaccine, will ensure quicker protection of the most vulnerable and speed up vaccination for citizens at risk.

The news follows reports of a new monkeypox strain has been identified in the UK according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). 

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