Mpox Vaccines: Challenges Persist as Congo Receives First Batch Of Doses Almost 2 Years After It Declared Epidemic

On Thursday, the European Commission said around 100,000 mpox vaccine doses arrived in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), making these the first delivery of the vaccine to the country.

A second delivery amounting to around 100,000 vaccines is expected to arrive in the coming days.

These vaccines are part of the 215,000 MVA-BN vaccine doses that the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority procured and pledged to share with affected African countries as an immediate response to the mpox outbreak.

MVA-BN or Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Bavarian Nordic A/S BVNRY BVNKF is a non-replicating smallpox vaccine and the only mpox vaccine approved in the EU/EEA and the U.K. (marketed as Imvanex), the U.S. and Switzerland (marketed as Jynneos), and in Canada (marketed as Imvamune).

An additional 351,500 doses from France, Germany, Spain, Malta, Portugal, Luxembourg, Croatia, Austria, Poland, and potentially some other Member States will be donated to the Africa CDC to distribute to affected countries.

This brings the total vaccine doses donated from Team Europe to at least 566,500.

Congo received the doses on Thursday, more than 18 months after the country declared the situation an epidemic.

Assigning blame for the sluggish distribution of mpox vaccines in Congo proves challenging due to a multitude of factors, the NPR report notes.

As of June 27, Congo’s regulatory body had not approved mpox vaccines for use. Subsequent donations from the U.S. have been stalled as the Congolese government finalizes pre-shipment requirements, such as proper vaccine storage and handling.

Many low- and middle-income countries rely on the World Health Organization (WHO) to evaluate vaccine safety and efficacy. Yet, the WHO has not approved any mpox vaccines, still relatively new, despite their authorization by U.S. and European health authorities during the global mpox outbreak in 2022.

There remain significant unknowns about the vaccines, especially regarding their effectiveness against the virus strain currently spreading in Congo, which has evolved into a new variant.

The African response to the mpox crisis mirrors past challenges faced during the COVID pandemic when vaccine access was severely limited for lower-income nations.

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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