United States – The global vaccine alliance Gavi said on Wednesday that it would order 500,000 doses of mpox vaccines to control the spread of the disease within the African region.
While Gavi stipulated timelines for the dispensation of vaccines in general, it specified no dates; as the statement issued by the organization cited, vaccines developed by Danish company ‘Bavarian Nordic,’ are to be ready for use in the calendar year.
Gavi to Purchase Mpox Vaccine
Gavi explained that the full costs, including transportation, delivery, and administration of the doses costing $50 million, will be financed from the group’s First Response Fund, a financial instrument established in June 2024, as reported by HealthDay.
Since the beginning of the year over 25,000 people have been affected and 723 people have died due to mpox mainly in Congo and the World Health Organization has declared it as the global health emergency.
To date, Congo, the country at the heart of the global health crisis, has obtained only 250,000 vaccine doses provided by the European Union and the United States. The 250,000 doses are only one-third of the 3 million doses that authorities claim are required to stop the mpox outbreak in the country.
More than 500,000 others were promised by EU nations, but they were unclear about the delivered.
Vaccine Rollout Plans in Congo
Congo approved the vaccine in an emergency use and has administered it to Europeans and Americans in adulthood. Initially, it will be used on the adult population in Equateur, where monkeypox is most rampant, followed by the other two provinces, South Kivu and Sankuru, on October 2, said Cris Kacita Osako, the coordinator of the Monkeypox Response Committee in Congo, to AP. For the moment, the distribution will be limited to the adult population, the target groups identified being persons who have been exposed to infected people and sex workers.
First Mpox Vaccine for Adults
This comes a few days after the World Health Organization said it had issued the first approval for a vaccine against mpox in adults, which it described as key to combating the disease in Africa. It made it possible for donors such as Gavi and UNICEF to purchase it. However, the availability of these supplies is a challenge as there is only one manufacturer for the assembly, as reported by HealthDay.
“This first (authorization) of a vaccine against mpox is an important step in our fight against the disease, both in the context of the current outbreaks in Africa and in the future,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.