Israel to get additional 8,000 monkeypox vaccines

By ToI Staff and AP 18 July 2022, 5:59 pm

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A test developed by R-Biopharm for research purposes to track and control the spread of the monkeypox virus, June, 1, 2022 (R-Biopharm AG/news aktuell via AP Images)

Israel will receive an additional 8,000 monkeypox vaccines, in addition to the 2,000 it has already ordered, Hebrew media reports.

Reports say Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz personally appealed to Danish company Bavarian Nordic, which makes the shots, to get an additional allocation.

Monkeypox is endemic in parts of Africa, where people have been infected through bites from rodents or small animals. It does not usually spread easily among people.

But this year more than 12,000 cases have been reported in countries that historically don’t see the disease. The infections emerged in men who had sex with men at gatherings in Europe, though health officials have stressed that anyone can catch the virus.