File photo of An employee of the vaccine company Bavarian Nordic works in a laboratory of the company in Martinsried near Munich, Germany, May 24, 2022. The company, headquartered in Denmark, is the only one in the world to have approval for a smallpox vaccine called Jynneos in the US and Imvanex in Europe, which is also effective against monkeypox.
The World Health Organization said on Monday it had approved Bavarian Nordic's mpox vaccine for adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, an age group considered especially vulnerable to outbreaks of the disease that has triggered global concern.
The WHO stated that it gave the Jynneos vaccine prequalification for adolescents on October 8.
The WHO declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years in August after a new type of the virus spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo to its neighbours.
The United Nations agency approved the use of the vaccine in September as the first shot against mpox in adults, making it easier for badly hit African countries to access the vaccine.
Children, adolescents and those with weakened immune systems have been particularly vulnerable to mpox, a viral infection that typically causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions filled with pus.
WHO's latest decision comes after the EU approved the drug for the vaccine for adolescents in September.