COPENHAGEN, SEPT 12 – The Danish pharmaceutical company, Bavarian Nordic, announced today that it will supply an additional two million doses of mpox vaccine by the end of this year.
According to the company’s statement, vaccine production was increased in response to high demand from various governments and international organizations following the spread of the mpox outbreak. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which is currently the epicenter of the outbreak, has recently received its first shipment of the vaccine.
“Bavarian Nordic has prioritized its vaccine production to meet the urgent need to tackle this outbreak,” the company said in an official statement.
The mpox vaccine is the only vaccine that has been licensed in Europe and the United States. Bavarian Nordic also announced that they are ready to produce up to 11 million doses by 2025.
The latest data from the Congolese Institute of Public Health recorded nearly 22,000 cases and 716 deaths related to the virus since January.
At the end of last month, the mpox virus had been identified in 14 African countries, including 796 cases in Burundi, 162 in Congo-Brazzaville and 45 in the Central African Republic.
The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated that a total of 3.6 million doses of the vaccine had been obtained for African countries, with the first batch of vaccines having been distributed. So far, 265,000 doses have been sent to Kinshasa to be distributed in preparation for next month’s vaccination campaign. – AFP
