In a statement on Monday, Britain’s Health Safety Agency said patients at clinics in Manchester and London will soon receive just a fifth of the normal dose of monkeypox vaccine as part of ongoing research, citing previous work that suggests that the smaller dose provided as effective an immune response as a full dose. Last week, the European Medicines Agency approved the move for its 27 members across the continent, echoing a decision taken by US regulators earlier this month. “Adopting this proven technique will help maximize the reach of our remaining inventory,” said Dr. Mary Ramsay, head of vaccination at Britain’s Health Safety Agency. He said the reduced doses would allow health workers to vaccinate “many thousands more people”. Last week, British officials said there were early signs that the monkeypox outbreak was slowing and that the number of cases was falling. Almost 3,200 cases have been reported in the UK since May, with 99% of infections among men who are gay, bisexual or have sex with men. About 70% of cases are in London. As of last week, UK authorities said more than 35,000 vaccines had been administered mainly to men who have sex with men, their intimate contacts and health workers. Globally, the supply of monkeypox vaccines is extremely limited. There is only one supplier – Denmark’s Bavarian Nordic – and most of the doses have already been bought from the US, Canada, Europe and other rich countries. Bavarian Nordic estimated that its production capacity for this year was around 30 million doses. No monkeypox vaccine has been administered so far in Africa, which has reported more than 70 suspected deaths, the highest number anywhere. To date, more than 41,000 cases of monkeypox have occurred worldwide in 94 countries. The World Health Organization and other health agencies do not recommend mass vaccination, but have advised countries to improve surveillance, testing and encourage other measures to slow the spread of the disease. The WHO has recommended that men at high risk for the disease consider temporarily reducing the number of sexual partners or refraining from group or anonymous sex. SHARE:
