Sania Nishtar, the chief executive of Gavi, a global vaccination organization, stated in a report that the organization had up to $500 million to spend on providing vaccines to nations impacted by an increasing mpox outbreak in Africa.
Gavi expanded into wider initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it primarily assists nations with limited resources in purchasing and administering vaccinations, typically against children illnesses like measles.
The funding is accessible through the group’s “First Response” fund, which was established in the early stages of COVID-19 when wealthy nations neglected to supply global health organizations like Gavi with vaccines.
The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization declared health emergencies this week, and it can be utilized to respond to them. The majority of the money comes from donations made for the COVID response by governments and global health funders.
“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, who collaborate to purchase vaccines, are unable to do so without WHO approval. The World Health Organization stated on Wednesday that it hoped to complete its assessment of the vaccines by September.
According to Nishtar, Gavi was also in preliminary discussions with the producers of the two commonly used mpox vaccines, which are produced by KM Biologics, opens new tab, and Bavarian Nordic (BAVA.CO). She stated that official commands can only be carried out with approval.
By the end of 2025, Bavarian Nordic claims to be able to produce 10 million doses.
“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.
In an email, KM Biologics promised to work as closely as possible with WHO. Advertisement · Click to proceed Report this advertisement Gavi is working with nations such as the United States, which has had 50,000 doses available for donation for several months, in the interim.
Additionally, Bavarian Nordic has given 15,000 dosages. Nishtar stated that one of the reasons for the delays was that the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been heavily impacted by the outbreak, has not yet made a formal request for the shots, along with setting up the legal procedures and vaccination deployment plans.
