Global vaccine alliance GAVI to buy 500,000 doses of mpox vaccine

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — The global vaccine alliance Gavi will buy 500,000 doses of mpox vaccine to battle outbreaks of the disease in African countries, the organization said on Wednesday.

The vaccine doses — manufactured by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic — will be available this year, Gavi said, without giving any specific dates.

Gavi said the full costs, including the transportation, delivery and administration of the doses, amounting to $50 million, would be covered by the group’s First Response Fund, a new financial mechanism created in June 2024.

Since the beginning of the year, there have been over 25,000 confirmed mpox cases and 723 related deaths, the vast majority in Congo, and the World Health Organization declared it a global health emergency.

So far Congo, the epicenter of the global health emergency, has received only 250,000 vaccine doses, donated by the European Union and the United States. The 250,000 doses are just a fraction of the 3 million doses authorities have said are needed to end the mpox outbreak in the country.

EU countries pledged to donate more than 500,000 others, but the timeline for their delivery remained unclear.

Congo issued an emergency approval of the vaccine, which has already been used in Europe and the United States in adults. Adults in Equateur, South Kivu and Sankuru, the three most affected provinces, will be vaccinated first, starting on Oct. 2, Cris Kacita Osako, coordinator of Congo’s Monkeypox Response Committee, told The Associated Press. For the moment, the rollout will be reserved for adults, with priority targeted groups being those who have been in close contact with infected people and sex workers.

Gavi’s announcement comes days after the World Health Organization said it has granted its first authorization for the use of a vaccine against mpox in adults, calling it an important step toward fighting the disease in Africa. It made it possible for donors like Gavi and UNICEF to buy it. But supplies are limited because there’s only a single manufacturer.

“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 future,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Last week, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization launched a continent-wide response plan to the outbreak of mpox, three weeks after WHO declared outbreaks in 12 African countries a global emergency.