Hundreds of thousands of mpox vaccines donated to fight 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 or Japan’s KM Biologics:

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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 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. 6.

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.

Democratic Republic of Congo’s government has asked Japan to donate at least 2 million vaccine doses, a senior official at Africa’s top public health body and a Congolese official said on Aug. 27. Japan’s government had earlier said Congo had requested doses without specifying the number.

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.

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

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 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while the Danish company will donate an additional 40,000 doses.

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