WHO says partners can start talks to buy mpox vaccine before approval

The World Health Organization said on Friday that its partners such as Gavi and the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) can start buying mpox vaccines before they are approved by the UN health agency, in an effort to vaccines are given to Africa more quickly as the continent struggles. escalating virus epidemic.

Traditionally, organizations like Gavi, an alliance that helps lower-income countries buy vaccines, can only start buying vaccines after receiving approval from the WHO. But the rules have been relaxed in this case to allow talks to move forward, with WHO approval expected in a few weeks.

Two vaccines, made by Denmark’s Bavarian Nordic BAVA.CO and Japan’s KM Biologics, have already been approved by regulatory authorities around the world, including the United States and Japan, and are in widespread use for mpox from 2022. About 1.2 million people have made Bavaria The Nordic vaccine in the United States alone. The WHO is expected to grant an emergency license to the shots in September.

Mpox, a viral infection spread through close contact that is usually mild but can kill, was declared an emergency of international concern by the WHO last week after a new offshoot of the virus spread rapidly in the Democratic Republic of Congo and beyond .

Earlier this month, the WHO asked vaccine makers to submit information so it could speed up its approval process and grant an emergency license by mid-September.

But this week one of the vaccine makers, Bavarian Nordic, said it urgently needed orders from organizations such as Gavi and the WHO to do more shots this year, raising fears that lower-income countries could miss out. or be forced to rely again on precarious donations from high-income countries, as happened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Some donated mpox vaccines are set to arrive in Africa next week, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.