Categories: Health

Africa Late to Monkeypox Vaccine

Next week, the African continent will finally receive the first batch of 10,000 vaccines against the smallpox virus, formerly known as monkeypox.

The delivery came at a critical time, as the new variant of the virus triggered a public health emergency declared on August 14 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and various regional authorities.

Delays in monkeypox vaccine distribution

While the vaccines are already available in 70 countries outside Africa, the delay in their arrival on the continent has sparked sharp criticism of WHO bureaucracy.

The situation shows that the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic about global inequalities in access to health care have not yet led to the changes needed, according to half a dozen public health experts and scientists cited by Reuters.

Unequal access to vaccines

In 2022, after another strain of smallpox spread outside Africa, smallpox vaccines were quickly distributed to many countries through direct purchase.

However, in Africa, where many countries cannot afford these purchases and rely on distribution by health agencies, vaccines have only been available for clinical trials.

For example, a vaccine developed by Denmark’s Bavarian Nordic, one of the few alternatives along with Japan’s KM Biologics, costs $100 a dose – a price out of reach for some sub-Saharan countries.

WHO’s bureaucratic problems

One of the main reasons for the delay in the delivery of the vaccine to Africa was the need to obtain WHO approval before public health organizations could purchase doses.

Just this month, the WHO asked vaccine makers for information needed to issue an emergency use license and called on several countries to donate doses as the approval process wraps up in September.

The Geneva-based agency said it did not have enough data from the 2022 monkeypox outbreak to proceed with approving vaccines.

Donation Requests

Helen Rees, a member of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) emergency committee on mpox, called it “outrageous” that Africa is again facing difficulties accessing vaccines after similar problems during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Faced with this reality, African countries and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have asked wealthier nations for vaccine donations. The first 10,000 doses of the 10 million needed, according to the CDC, will come from U.S. donations.