Vaccination alliance Gavi are using First Response Fund to purchase Mpox vaccines for Africa
Credit: Shutterstock:Riccardo Mayer
As advised in a recent Euro Weekly News article, the number of cases of Mpox in Spain is currently in decline.
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Africa, where there have been 24,000 confirmed or suspected cases due to MPXV Clade I and Clade II, the latter being the more serious.
Adding to the urgency, the latest information from the Africa CDC Epidemic Intelligence Report issued on September 10 reveals that the outbreak has led to more than 600 deaths. The affected countries include Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Guinea, Liberia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda. A case in Morocco was also reported on September 12, although details of which type of Clade it was are, as yet, unforthcoming.
Mpox outbreak in Africa is a global issue
The increasing number of Mpox cases has caught the world’s attention, prompting a global response. A major breakthrough is the commitment of a global vaccine donor, who has purchased 500,000 vaccination doses for Africa. This significant development, coupled with the recent approval of the vaccine by the World Health Organisation (WHO), is a testament to the collective effort in addressing the crisis.
The vaccine will be distributed to the countries with the highest outbreaks, following the WHO’s criteria that prioritise high-risk populations.
The vaccine, developed by Danish manufacturer Bavarian Nordic, is expected to arrive later this year. The vaccine alliance Gavi is covering the cost of these doses, which is in line with its commitment to protecting people’s health through increasing the use of equitable and sustainable vaccines.
Vaccine alliance Gavi is responding to Mpox outbreak in Africa
Established in 2000, Gavi has confirmed that the 500,000 doses of the Mpox vaccine will be paid for through their First Response Fund, an emergency fund created in June this year to enable them to respond to health crises that require emergency vaccines.
Dr Sania Nishtar, Gavi CEO confirmed, “The First Response Fund was designed in collaboration with Gavi donors and partners specifically to provide rapid early funding for emergencies such as Mpox.”
Gavi are not the only ones coming forward to help Africa combat this outbreak of Mpox. In fact, Japan has pledged 3 million vaccine doses from another vaccine manufacturer, and Europe and the US have also stepped in to help. This purchase from Gavi brings the number of vaccines pledged to a total of 4.1 million, with the first arriving from the European Union earlier this month.
However, while this may sound like a lot, the WHO has estimated that it will take around 10 million vaccine shots to quell the Mpox outbreak, which was declared an official public health emergency in August.
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