The European Commission said, on Friday 23 August, that it had asked Member States if they planned to donate Mpox (Monkeypox) vaccines to African countries, and that it had proposed coordinating deliveries.
“European donations will have more immediate impact if they are coordinated and channelled with the tried and tested Team Europe approach, as was successfully done during the Covid-19 pandemic.”, said the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, in a letter to the Member States posted on the social network X (https://aeur.eu/f/d7q ).
She points out that several Member States and third countries have announced their intention to donate doses of Mpox vaccine to affected countries and to Africa.
Ms Kyriakides explained that her department had contacted EU countries to ask if they intended to donate Mpox vaccines and therapeutics, and what volumes were available for donation, with a deadline set for the end of August.
The Commission pointed out that a framework procurement contract has been signed with vaccine producer Bavarian Nordic and that countries can purchase additional doses for donation.
The EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) collaborated with the company in question to obtain and donate more than 215,000 doses of MVA-BN vaccine to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) (see EUROPE 13466/4). The CDC will distribute them according to an established vaccination strategy and regional needs.
Following a meeting of the EU ‘Health Security Committee’ on 19 August, attended by experts from the 27 Member States and the European Commission, the Commission stressed that a “coordinated approach” at European level would be essential to prevent a resurgence of Mpox cases.
Last week, Bavarian Nordic said it was ready to produce up to 10 million vaccine doses by 2025. The laboratory has 500,000 doses in stock. Bavarian Nordic has applied to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to extend the use of its vaccine to adolescents aged 12 to 17. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)