The World Health Organization has approved Bavarian Nordic’s mpox vaccine for adolescents aged 12 to 17 years, an age group considered vulnerable to the disease. 

The WHO had 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. 

Scientists have warned that the new strain, called clade 1b, is a more dangerous variant.

The move made it simpler for African countries particularly hard-hit by mpox to acquire the vaccine,after the EU approved the drug for adolescents in September.