Gavi to purchase 500,000 Mpox Vaccine doses to combat outbreak in Africa

The global vaccine alliance Gavi announced on Wednesday that it will purchase 500,000 doses of Bavarian Nordic’s mpox vaccine, marking its first acquisition of the vaccine to address an outbreak in parts of Africa.

In 2024, more than 25,000 suspected mpox cases and 723 deaths have been reported in Africa, primarily in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), which has classified the outbreak as a global health emergency.

Gavi, a public-private partnership that helps fund vaccines for low-income countries, plans to invest up to $50 million in this initiative, covering the cost of transportation, delivery, and administration of the vaccines. The doses are set to be delivered this year.

The WHO noted that around 3.6 million doses of mpox vaccine have already been promised to the DRC by wealthier nations with stockpiles, but only a small fraction has been delivered so far. The WHO approved the vaccine for use last Friday.

The purchase by Gavi, through a facility created after the COVID-19 pandemic to rapidly address public health crises, has the potential to speed up the response in Congo and other impacted countries.

Although the vaccine price wasn’t disclosed, the $50 million investment implies a cost of roughly $100 per dose, which is lower than earlier estimates. The actual price is likely even less, as the funding also covers storage and distribution.

Gavi’s CEO, Sania Nishtar, stressed the need to collaborate with partners “to turn these vaccines into vaccinations as quickly and effectively as possible and, over time, to build a global vaccine stockpile.”

Bavarian Nordic’s CEO, Paul Chaplin, stated that the agreement would significantly increase the availability of mpox vaccines in Africa.

The company also announced last week that some existing orders, including U.S. government contracts, would be postponed until 2025 to address current market demands.

Mpox, a virus transmitted through close contact that usually results in flu-like symptoms and pus-filled sores, has been a long-standing public health issue in parts of Africa.

However, vaccines were never accessible outside of clinical trials in affected African nations, even after a different strain of the virus spread worldwide in 2022.