Tens of thousands of mpox vaccines given to combat epidemic in Africa

• The five nations, namely Canada, France, Germany, Spain, and the U.S., have pledged to provide mpox vaccines from their own stockpiles to African countries that are currently facing an outbreak of the disease.
• In August, the World Health Organization classified the current mpox outbreak as a global public health emergency.
• The EU has committed to providing 215,000 vaccine doses to African countries through a joint procurement contract with Bavarian Nordic.

An outbreak of mpox in Africa has prompted some countries to pledge to donate vaccines, following the World Health Organization's declaration of a global public health emergency in August for the second time in two years.

The purpose of such donations is to address the significant disparity that prevented African countries from obtaining the vaccines used during the global pandemic in 2022.

The list of countries that have pledged to donate doses of vaccines produced by Denmark's Bavarian Nordic or Japan's KM Biologics includes:

Canada to donate up to 200K mpox vaccine doses

Up to 200,000 vaccine doses will be donated by Canada, according to a government spokesperson on Sep. 12. The amount of doses to be given depends on the capacity of the receiving countries for storage and administration.

France pledges 100K mpox vaccine doses

According to the Q&A section of its website, updated on Sept. 6, France will provide 100,000 doses based on local needs, its health ministry stated.

Germany to donate mpox vaccine from military stockpile

On Aug. 26, a government spokesperson announced that Germany would contribute 100,000 doses from its military reserves to assist in controlling the outbreak.

Japan asked for 2M mpox vaccine doses

The Democratic Republic of Congo's government has requested at least 2 million vaccine doses from Japan, according to a senior official at Africa's top public health body and a Congolese official who spoke on Aug. 27. Earlier, Japan's government had stated that Congo had requested doses without specifying the number.

Spain to donate 20% of mpox vaccine stockpile

On Aug. 27, Spain's health ministry announced that it would donate 500,000 doses, or 20% of its stockpile, to other countries in need. Additionally, the ministry called on the European Commission to propose that all EU member states donate 20% of their respective stock of the vaccine.

U.S. pledges 60K mpox vaccine doses

The Democratic Republic of Congo will receive 50,000 doses of Bavarian Nordic's vaccine and financial support for its rollout, as announced by the U.S. State Department on Aug. 22.

On August 27, the U.S. Agency for International Development announced it would provide 10,000 doses of mpox vaccines to Nigeria.

European Union promises 215K mpox vaccine doses

The EU, in collaboration with Bavarian Nordic through a joint procurement contract, has committed to distributing 215,000 vaccine doses to affected African countries. Additionally, the EU encouraged its members to coordinate their donations instead of making individual contributions.

In August, the Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) of the bloc agreed to purchase 175,420 doses of Bavarian's vaccine and give them to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), while the Danish company will donate an additional 40,000 doses.