Mpox in Africa prompts $500 million funding from Gavi for vaccines
Adds DRC government comments in paragraphs 15-16
By Jennifer Rigby
LONDON, Aug 15 (Reuters) -The global vaccine group Gavi has up to $500 million to spend on getting shots to countries affected by an escalating mpox outbreak in Africa, its chief executive Sania Nishtar told Reuters.
Gavi helps countries with fewer resources buy and deploy vaccines, usually against childhood diseases like measles, but it expanded into broader efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The money is available in the organization’s "First Response" fund, which was set up after global health agencies like Gavi were left behind by high-income countries in procuring vaccines during the early days of COVID.
It can be used to respond to health emergencies, which were declared by the World Health Organization and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week.
The funds are largely left over from money donated by governments and global health funders for the COVID response.
“The money for the vaccines is ready to be tapped into,” said Nishtar, but there were hurdles to clear, including official requests for vaccines from affected countries, as well as approvals of the vaccines from the World Health Organization, which declared mpox a global health emergency on Wednesday.
Gavi and UNICEF, which work together to buy vaccines, cannot do so without WHO approving them. On Wednesday, the global health agency said it was hoping to finalise its evaluation of the vaccines by September.
Nishtar said Gavi was also in early talks with the manufacturers of the two mpox vaccines that are widely used, made by Bavarian Nordic BAVA.CO and KM Biologics. Official orders can only proceed after approval, she said.
Bavarian Nordic has said it can make 10 million doses by the end of 2025.
"We have already significant capacity in place and can easily handle delivery of all doses needed for the outbreak," a Bavarian Nordic spokesperson said by email.
"But we need someone to buy the doses. None of the organizations have shown interest so far," he added, without providing details.
KM Biologics said in an email it would cooperate with WHO as much as possible.
In the meantime, Gavi is coordinating with countries like the United States, which has had 50,000 doses available for donation for months. Bavarian Nordic has also donated 15,000 doses.
However, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been severely affected by the outbreak, has yet to make an official request for the shots, which Nishtar said was a delaying factor, along with arranging legal processes and deployment plans for vaccination.
In a press conference on Thursday, Congo's health minister Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba said the country needs 3 million vaccine doses.
"That's why it was important to wake up the international community," he said.
Reporting by Jennifer Rigby in London and Ange Adihe Kasongo in Kinshasa; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Jonathan Oatis
Últimas notícias
Isenção de Responsabilidade: As entidades do XM Group proporcionam serviço de apenas-execução e acesso à nossa plataforma online de negociação, permitindo a visualização e/ou uso do conteúdo disponível no website ou através deste, o que não se destina a alterar ou a expandir o supracitado. Tal acesso e uso estão sempre sujeitos a: (i) Termos e Condições; (ii) Avisos de Risco; e (iii) Termos de Responsabilidade. Este, é desta forma, fornecido como informação generalizada. Particularmente, por favor esteja ciente que os conteúdos da nossa plataforma online de negociação não constituem solicitação ou oferta para iniciar qualquer transação nos mercados financeiros. Negociar em qualquer mercado financeiro envolve um nível de risco significativo de perda do capital.
Todo o material publicado na nossa plataforma de negociação online tem apenas objetivos educacionais/informativos e não contém — e não deve ser considerado conter — conselhos e recomendações financeiras, de negociação ou fiscalidade de investimentos, registo de preços de negociação, oferta e solicitação de transação em qualquer instrumento financeiro ou promoção financeira não solicitada direcionadas a si.
Qual conteúdo obtido por uma terceira parte, assim como o conteúdo preparado pela XM, tais como, opiniões, pesquisa, análises, preços, outra informação ou links para websites de terceiras partes contidos neste website são prestados "no estado em que se encontram", como um comentário de mercado generalizado e não constitui conselho de investimento. Na medida em que qualquer conteúdo é construído como pesquisa de investimento, deve considerar e aceitar que este não tem como objetivo e nem foi preparado de acordo com os requisitos legais concebidos para promover a independência da pesquisa de investimento, desta forma, deve ser considerado material de marketing sob as leis e regulações relevantes. Por favor, certifique-se que leu e compreendeu a nossa Notificação sobre Pesquisa de Investimento não-independente e o Aviso de Risco, relativos à informação supracitada, os quais podem ser acedidos aqui.
