• The European Commission approved Bavarian Nordic's Imvanex vaccine — which protects against smallpox — for use against monkeypox in the EU. • Imvanex is the only vaccine to have been granted approval for the prevention of monkeypox in the United States and Canada and had previously only been approved for use in the treatment of smallpox. The European Union The European Union is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are located primarily in Europe.