The Access and Allocation Mechanism (AAM) for mpox has allocated an initial 899,000 vaccine doses to Nigeria and eight other African countries hit by the current mpox surge.
The other eight countries are the Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.
A statement released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), disclosed that the vaccine provided in collaboration with affected countries and donors, aims to ensure that the limited doses are used effectively and fairly to control the outbreaks.
“The AAM principals from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), UNICEF, and the World Health Organization (WHO) approved the allocation, following the recommendations of an independent Technical Review Committee of the Continental Incident Management Support Team for mpox,” the statement said.
The statement noted that the largest number of doses – 85 percent of the allocation – will go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the most affected country.
“These doses come from Canada, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Luxemburg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain, as well as the European Union Health Emergency Response Authority), and the United States of America,” the statement said.
The outbreak of mpox, particularly the surge of the viral strain clade Ib, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring countries was declared a public health emergency of international concern by WHO and a public health emergency of continental security by Africa CDC in mid-August.
According to the statement, this year, 19 countries in Africa have reported mpox, many of them newly affected by the viral disease.
It added, however, that the epicentre of the outbreak remains the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with over 38, 000 suspected cases and over 1,000 deaths reported this year.
“Vaccination is recommended as a part of a comprehensive mpox response strategy, focusing also on timely testing and diagnosis, effective clinical care, infection prevention, and the engagement of affected communities. Vaccines play an important role and are recommended to reduce transmission and help contain outbreaks.
“In recent weeks, limited vaccination has begun in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. This allocation to the 9 countries marks a significant step towards a coordinated and targeted deployment of vaccines to stop the mpox outbreaks,” the statement noted.
