Mpox crisis: Why do African countries struggle to make or buy vaccines?

African countries produce less than 2 percent of the vaccines the continent needs, experts say.

After months of delay due to logistics, the first sets of mpox vaccines have finally begun arriving in Democratic Republic of the Congo, donated by Western countries.

The Central African nation is the epicentre of a new mpox outbreak that led the World Health Organization (WHO) to sound its highest alert level last month. In 2024, more than 20,000 mpox cases have been reported and more than 500 people have died. The virus is present in 13 African countries, as well as in some European and Asian nations.

However, neither DRC nor other African nations produce the vaccines that could slow the spread of mpox and eventually help it to die out. Instead, the countries at the heart of the health crisis have had to rely on promises of vaccine donations from abroad.

Japan and Denmark are the only countries with mpox vaccine manufacturers. Promised donations from Japan to DRC did not materialise in August due to administrative delays, officials said. Last Thursday, the European Union donated about 99,000 doses to DRC; then on Tuesday the United States, via USAID, delivered 50,000 doses. The vaccines came from Danish pharmaceutical Bavarian Nordic.

DRC, a country of about 100 million people, aims to roll the doses out in the hardest-hit South Kivu and Equateur regions.