The only company with a vaccine approved for monkeypox says it's not sure if it can keep up with demand
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- The drugmaker of the only approved vaccine for monkeypox said its not sure if it can meet the demand.
- "Demand keeps rising," a vice president at the Danish company that manufactures the vaccine told Bloomberg.
- The WHO declared the growing monkeypox outbreak a global public health emergency last month.
The drugmaker of the world's only approved vaccine for monkeypox said that it is now not sure if it can meet demand as cases for the virus continue to rise across the globe.
"It's a very dynamic market situation," Rolf Sass Sorensen, a vice president at Bavarian Nordic, the Danish biotechnology company that manufactures the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine, told Bloomberg in a report published on Wednesday.
"Demand keeps rising and it's no longer certain that we can continue to meet the demand we're facing even with the upgrade of our existing manufacturing site in Denmark," Sorensen said, according to the news outlet.
He added that Bavarian Nordic is now considering partnerships for its production of the shot — a smallpox vaccine that works against monkeypox.
Sharing the technology with a manufacturer in the United States is on the table, Sorensen said.
"We're looking at ways to get help from partners in all the various production steps of the vaccine," the vice president of investor relations told Bloomberg.
He added, "We don't have any concrete negotiations in the works with bulk producers, but we're investigating and looking at what options there are."
Bavarian Nordic's monkeypox vaccine has been approved for use by the US, the European Union, and Canada.
Last month, the World Health Organization declared the growing monkeypox outbreak a global public health emergency.
According to the latest data by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 38,000 monkeypox cases have been confirmed in nearly 100 countries around the world. A dozen deaths have been caused by the virus, according to the CDC.
The US has recorded more than 12,600 confirmed monkeypox cases, the CDC data shows.
Monkeypox is typically transmitted through very close contact and can cause rashes or puss-filled boils that cover the body and flu-like symptoms, including fever and muscle aches.