Mpox vaccine procurement in Africa key to contain outbreak: Report

Mpox vaccine procurement for atrisk populations across Africa is crucial to contain the deadly outbreak and save lives according to a report on FridayThe report by GlobalData a data and analytics company noted that while Mpox vaccines played an important role in containing the 2022 mpox outbreak in highincome nations ldquonone are currently widely available in AfricardquoBavarian Nordicrsquos MVABN vaccine JynneosImvanex approved in the US Europe and Canada is the leading mpox vaccine worldwideIn addition KM Biologicsrsquo LC16 vaccine is available in Japan and Emergent BioSolutionsrsquo ACAM2000 is also under regulatory review for mpox in the USFiona Chisholm Associate Director of Infectious Diseases at GlobalData called for a coordinated international response to put ldquopressure on countries with stockpiles to donate their mpox vaccinesrdquoTo manage the outbreak ldquothe Africa CDC has estimated that it will need around 10 million vaccine dosesrdquo she saidldquoAs an immediate response the European Commission announced that it will donate 175420 doses of the MVABN vaccine to the Africa CDC while Bavarian Nordic will donate 40000 doses Bavarian Nordic has also confirmed that it has the capabilities to produce 10 million doses of the vaccine by the end of 2025 and is waiting to receive ordersrdquoThe World Health Organization WHO and Africa CDC declared a global health emergency on mpox after 13 countries in Africa reported an outbreakMpox is a viral infection that causes symptoms such as pusfilled lesions and fever It can be transmitted by contact with an infected person animal or contaminated materialsWhile most people recover within a few weeks mpox can lead to serious complications such as sepsis pneumonia and severe dehydration and can be fatal This is particularly the case for immunocompromised individuals such as those with HIVImportantly the current outbreak is majorly being driven by a novel strain of the virus known as clade IbldquoClade Ib appears to be more virulent than clade II the strain that was responsible for the 2022 mpox outbreak and children appear to be particularly susceptible to this strainrdquo Chisholm saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever