Vaccine alliance secures deal for 500,000 mpox jabs for Africa
The Peninsula
Geneva: The Gavi vaccine alliance announced Wednesday a deal with Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic to secure 500,000 jabs against mpox for use in Afri...
Geneva: The Gavi vaccine alliance announced Wednesday a deal with Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic to secure 500,000 jabs against mpox for use in African countries facing an epidemic of the virus.
The announcement came after the World Health Organization last week prequalified an mpox vaccine, MVA-BN, for the first time, paving the way for the United Nations and other international agencies to procure them.
Separately, the Global Fund -- a partnership set up in 2002 to battle AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria -- said it would provide $9.5 million towards the mpox response in the Democratic Republic of Congo, at the epicentre of the current epidemic.
Gavi said the vaccine doses, to be delivered by the end of the year, would be purchased through its First Response Fund, which was created in June to make cash rapidly available for vaccines during health emergencies.
"We are committed to working with affected governments and our partners to turn these vaccines into vaccinations as quickly and effectively as possible," Gavi's chief Sania Nishtar said in a statement.
