Bavarian Nordic, a German-Danish pharmaceutical company, has shipped 500 million doses of mpox vaccine to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI). GAVI stated that the vaccines will be distributed to affected African countries through UNICEF, funded by GAVI’s First Response Fund. This emergency mechanism, established in June, enables rapid access to limited vaccine stocks during health emergencies.
Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine safe and effective, allowing UN organizations like UNICEF to procure and distribute it.
In Africa, over 18,000 suspected mpox cases have been reported, primarily in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The WHO has labeled this outbreak a global health emergency, calling for increased vigilance worldwide.
In addition to GAVI’s efforts, European Union member states are donating 620,000 vaccine doses, while Japan will supply an additional three million doses of a different vaccine type.
