The Access and Allocation Mechanism for Mpox has distributed an initial 899,000 vaccine doses to nine African countries, including Nigeria, in response to the current surge in Mpox cases. This was announced in a joint statement from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Thursday.
The allocation, approved by representatives from Africa CDC, CEPI, Gavi, UNICEF, and WHO, aims to maximize the impact of the limited doses in controlling outbreaks. The decision was based on epidemiological data and each country’s readiness. The nine countries receiving vaccines are the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has reported four out of every five confirmed cases in Africa, will receive 85% of the total doses. This vaccine support comes from contributions by Canada, Gavi, the EU, and the U.S.
Declared a public health emergency by WHO and Africa CDC in mid-August, the Mpox outbreak has affected 19 African nations this year, with the DRC as the epicenter, reporting over 38,000 suspected cases and more than 1,000 deaths. The vaccination effort is part of a broader Mpox response strategy, emphasizing testing, clinical care, infection control, and community engagement to reduce transmission and contain the outbreak.
“In recent weeks, limited vaccination has begun in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. This allocation to the nine countries marks a significant step towards a coordinated and targeted deployment of vaccines to stop the Mpox outbreaks.
“For most countries, the rollout of Mpox vaccines will be a new undertaking. Implementing targeted vaccination requires additional resources. Partners of the Mpox AAM, set up last month, are working to scale up the response. Further allocations of vaccines are expected before the end of the year,” it stated.
On vaccine availability, it said over 5.85 million vaccine doses are expected to be available to the Mpox Vaccines AAM by the end of 2024, including the nearly 900,000 allocated doses.
“The supply includes contributions from multiple nations and organisations, including 1.85 million doses of MVA-BN from the European Union, United States, and Canada, 500,000 doses of MVA-BN from Gavi utilising the First Response Fund, 500,000 doses procured through UNICEF, as well as a further 3 million doses of the LC16 vaccine from Japan,” it noted.
In August, Nigeria received 10,000 doses of the Jynneos Mpox vaccine from the government of the United States of America.
