The new variant of mpox, which was identified in Sweden on Thursday, is more transmissible and more dangerous than previous ones, especially for younger people.
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Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic, which manufactures a vaccine targeting MPOX, announced on Friday, August 16, that it had asked the European Medicines Agency to extend the use of its vaccine to adolescents aged 12 to 17. “Interim results of the clinical study show non-inferiority of immune responses to vaccination against MPOX virus and smallpox in adolescents and a safety profile similar to that of adults”Bavarian Nordic wrote in a statement.
In the United States, during the previous mpox outbreak in 2022, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted the vaccine emergency use authorization for adolescents. Currently, the sharp resurgence of the disease in Africa is mainly due to a new strain, clade 1b, which is more transmissible and more dangerous than previous strains, especially for younger people.
On Thursday, Bavarian Nordic said it was ready to produce up to 10 million doses of vaccine by 2025. The company currently has some 500,000 doses in stock.
