The first doses of the Monkeypox vaccine have arrived in Malta as part of the EU Joint Procurement Mechanism, Health Minister Chris Fearne tweeted on Tuesday.
The vaccine, he said, will be offered to primary contacts of confirmed Monkeypox cases free of charge.
WHO declared the global spread of monkeypox to be an international emergency in July and the U.S. declared its own epidemic to be a national emergency earlier this month. It describes Monkeypox as a viral zoonosis (a virus transmitted to humans from animals) with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe. "With the eradication of smallpox in 1980 and subsequent cessation of smallpox vaccination, monkeypox has emerged as the most important orthopoxvirus for public health. Monkeypox primarily occurs in central and west Africa, often in proximity to tropical rainforests, and has been increasingly appearing in urban areas. Animal hosts include a range of rodents and non-human primates."