On the 14th, the European Union health emergency preparedness and response agency signed a procurement contract with the Danish Bavarian Nordic company to purchase about 109000 doses of the company's third-generation vaccine to deal with monkeypox. Belarus' National Center for epidemiology and microbiology science and practice said on the 13th that the country has developed a monkeypox virus detection system. The European Commission announced on the 14th that as the number of monkeypox cases continues to increase, the above contract will ensure that all EU Member States, Norway and Iceland can obtain vaccines as soon as possible. The health emergency preparedness and response Bureau will distribute vaccines to Member States in proportion, and EU countries with serious monkeypox epidemic will receive vaccines by the end of this month. Magari tishinas, vice president of the European Commission, said in the communique that this is the first time to directly purchase vaccines for member states through the EU health plan using the EU budget. It is our common goal to effectively prevent and respond to emerging health threats. The third generation vaccine of Bavaria Nordic company is only approved in the EU to prevent smallpox. Because monkeypox and smallpox belong to the genus orthopoxvirus of poxviridae, smallpox vaccine can also protect people from monkeypox. Some EU member states have granted exemptions to allow the vaccine to be temporarily used to prevent monkeypox virus. The European Drug Administration stands ready to support member states in promoting such exemptions and has contacted the Bavarian Nordic company to speed up the approval process. Since May 18, 19 EU member states have reported about 900 monkeypox cases. At present, the World Health Organization has assessed the global public health risk level of monkeypox as "medium". Gorbunov, director of the national epidemiology and microbiology science and practice center of Belarus, told the media on the 13th that the newly developed monkeypox virus detection system in Belarus can produce results within a few hours after sampling by using polymerase chain reaction detection technology. Gorbunov said that currently Belarus has not reported monkeypox cases, but it needs to be prevented. Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease. Monkeypox virus can be transmitted from animals to humans through close contact. Although human to human transmission is not easy to occur, close contact with infected persons may also lead to infection. The initial symptoms of monkeypox infection in humans include fever, headache, muscle soreness, back pain, swollen lymph nodes, etc. later, it can develop into a large-scale skin rash on the face and body. Most infected people will recover within a few weeks, but there are also infected people with serious conditions. (Xinhua News Agency)