<div><span style="font-size: 1rem;">The European Commission has approved a smallpox vaccine for use against monkeypox after the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a global health emergency, the Danish drugmaker that developed the jab said on Monday.</span><br></div><div><br></div><div>"The European Commission has extended the marketing authorisation for the company's smallpox vaccine, Imvanex, to include protection from monkeypox" in line with a recommendation by the EU's medicines watchdog, Bavarian Nordic said in a statement.</div><div><br></div><div>"The approval... is valid in all European Union Member States as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway."</div><div><br></div><div>On Saturday, the WHO declared the monkeypox outbreak, which has affected nearly 16,000 people in 72 countries, to be a global health emergency -- the highest alarm it can sound.</div><div><br></div><div>Imvanex has been approved in the EU since 2013 for the prevention of smallpox.</div><div><br></div><div>It was also considered a potential vaccine for monkeypox because of the similarity between the monkeypox virus and the smallpox virus.</div><div><br></div><div>Monkeypox is less dangerous and contagious than smallpox, which was eradicated in 1980. - AFP&nbsp;</div><div>&nbsp;</div><div>bnbd24/fas</div>