Countries donate mpox vaccines to combat outbreak in Africa

Some countries have pledged to donate doses of mpox vaccines to combat an outbreak of the disease in Africa, after the World Health Organization declared it a global public health emergency in August for the second time in two years.

Such donations are meant to address the huge inequity that left African nations with no access to the shots used during the global outbreak in 2022.

Below is a list of countries that have promised to donate doses they hold, made by Denmark’s Bavarian Nordic BAVA.CO or Japan’s KM Biologics:

CANADA

Canada will donate up to 200,000 vaccine doses, a government spokesperson said on Sep 12. The number of doses to be donated depends on the receiving countries’ capacity for storage and administration.

FRANCE

France will donate 100,000 doses based on “locally identified needs”, its health ministry said on the Q&A section of its website, last updated on Sept. 16.

GERMANY

Germany will donate 100,000 doses from its military stocks to help contain the outbreak in the short term, a government spokesperson said on Aug. 26.

JAPAN

Japan has pledged to donate 3 million doses of KM Biologics’ LC16 vaccine, the largest number of doses pledged to date, the WHO said in a statement on Sep. 13.

SPAIN

Spain will donate 500,000 doses, or 20% of its stockpile, its health ministry said on Aug 27. It has also urged the European Commission to propose that all EU member states donate 20% of their respective stock of the vaccine.

UNITED STATES

The US State Department said on Aug. 22 it would donate 50,000 doses of Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine to the Democratic Republic of Congo, along with financial support for the rollout.

The US Agency for International Development said on Aug 27 it would donate 10,000 doses of mpox vaccines to Nigeria.

EUROPEAN UNION

The EU, which has a joint procurement contract with Bavarian Nordic to buy vaccines for donations, has pledged to share 215,000 doses to affected African countries. It also urged its members to coordinate their donations rather than do them individually.

The bloc’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) in August agreed to procure 175,420 doses of Bavarian’s vaccine and donate them to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while the Danish company will donate additional 40,000 doses.

GAVI VACCINE ALLIANCE

Gavi, an international public-private alliance which co-funds vaccine purchases for low-income countries, said on Sept 18 it would buy 500,000 doses of Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine, due to be delivered this year.