Spain approves 'dose-sparing' of monkeypox vaccine

Madrid: Spanish health authorities on Monday approved a new monkeypox vaccination strategy, allowing more people to get vaccinated with smaller doses amid scarce supplies, the health ministry said in a statement.

Each dose of Bavarian Nordic's Imvanex vaccine, the only monkeypox vaccine currently available, will be divided into five doses, with exceptions for pregnant women and immunocompromised people, the ministry said.

With the new strategy, Spain follows in the footsteps of Britain, which also approved the use of smaller doses of the monkeypox vaccine on Monday, following the European Medicines Agency decision last week to allow "dose-sparing".

On Monday, Spain received a further 5,000 doses of the vaccine, bringing the total received to more than 17,000 doses.

Spain is among the countries worst-hit by the disease, registering more than 6,119 monkeypox cases since May.

Worldwide, more than 40,000 cases have been reported in 80 non-endemic countries.