Gavi to buy 500,000 Mpox vaccine for Africa

GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, is set to buy 500,000 doses of the Bavarian Nordic Mpox vaccine as part of its efforts to tackle the outbreak in parts of Africa.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, GAVI said it made an advance purchase agreement to secure the shots and have them supplied to African countries affected by the outbreak of the Mpox virus.

According to the group, the vaccine purchase will be funded by GAVI’s first response fund, a new financial mechanism established to help secure funds for health emergencies in June.

The global vaccine alliance stated that Bovarian Nordic will be ready to provide vaccines, as soon as the arrangements for distribution across Africa have been finalised with the United Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF).

UNICEF, a UN agency that works in partnership with GAVI will be responsible for distributing the vaccines to the countries or regions in need.

However, GAVI affirmed that the doses will be supplied to Africa in 2024.

Speaking on this, the Gavi CEO, Sania Nishtar, said the group is focused on supporting African leaders to tackle the spread of infectious diseases in their countries by providing vaccines that would be administered to the citizens within a short time frame.

She said, “We are committed to working with affected governments and our partners to turn these vaccines into vaccinations as quickly and effectively as possible and, over time, to build a global vaccine stockpile if sufficient funding is secured for Gavi’s work through 2030.

“We thank our donors for enabling us to act rapidly by committing funds to the First Response Fund before an emergency occurred.”

Mrs Nishtar added that the First Response Fund was designed in collaboration with Gavi donors and partners specifically to provide rapid early funding for emergencies such as mpox.

“Using it today to fund the first direct transaction for vaccines in support of equitable access and the global response, just over a month since mpox was declared a public health emergency, takes us a long way towards our goal of protecting those most at risk,” she said

Vaccine unavailable in Africa

The recent Mpox outbreak first began in the Democratic Republic of Congo in November 2023 before eventually spreading to several other African countries including Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Kenya.

The Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has recorded over 26,544 suspected cases and 5,732 confirmed cases across 15 African countries.

Also, at least 724 deaths have been recorded so far.

Despite the high burden of the disease on the continent, the arrival of the vaccine into the continent has been slow.

Health experts told Reuters that the vaccine has been difficult for many low-income nations due to its high cost. However, the struggle for access is worsened by the delay in WHO approval for international agencies to procure and distribute the vaccine to poor countries.

This has forced African governments and the African CDC to resort to seeking donations of vaccines from wealthier countries.

So far, only DR Congo and Nigeria have received doses of the vaccine.

Mpox in Nigeria

Meanwhile, suspected and confirmed cases of the Mpox virus have continued to rise in Nigeria.

The recent situation report issued by the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) showed that at least 1,031 suspected cases have been recorded in the country.

Also, the country has reported 64 confirmed cases of the infectious disease with zero case fatality across 47 local government areas in 23 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

NCDC also reported that children and men are the most affected by the Mpox virus, raising concern about the susceptibility of young children to the disease.

Out of the total 64 confirmed cases recorded in 2024, children below age five accounted for the highest cases with a total of 15 confirmed cases.

Also, 67 per cent of Mpox cases recorded since January 2024 were reported in males.