On Monday 26 September, the European Commission announced the purchase of 10,000 treatments of the antiviral drug Tecovirimat (see EUROPE 13001/10) to be used against monkeypox.
The procurement was carried out by the new Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) through a joint procurement procedure.
Using a different set of logistics than those for the delivery of HERA-secured monkeypox vaccines (see EUROPE 12971/4), Tecovirimat treatments will be delivered through the strategic reserve of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, RescEU, and will be made available to Member States participating in the Mechanism on the basis of the most urgent needs.
Monkeypox is “one of the priority threats identified as part of the rescEU strategic reserves”, according to the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič. (Original version in French by Émilie Vanderhulst)