Exclusive-Mpox in Africa prompts $500 million funding from Gavi for vaccines

LONDON - The global vaccine group Gavi has up to $500 million to spend on getting shots to countries affected by an escalating mpox outbreak in Africa, its chief executive Sania Nishtar told Reuters.

Gavi helps countries with fewer resources buy and deploy vaccines, usually against childhood diseases like measles, but it expanded into broader efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The money is available in the organization’s "First Response" fund, which was set up after global health agencies like Gavi were left behind by high-income countries in procuring vaccines during the early days of COVID.

It can be used to respond to health emergencies, which were declared by the World Health Organization and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week.

The funds are largely left over from money donated by governments and global health funders for the COVID response.

“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, which work together to buy vaccines, cannot do so without WHO approving them. On Wednesday, the global health agency said it was hoping to finalise its evaluation of the vaccines by September.

Nishtar said Gavi was also in early talks with the manufacturers of the two mpox vaccines that are widely used, made by Bavarian Nordic and KM Biologics. Official orders can only proceed after approval, she said.

Bavarian Nordic has said it can make 10 million doses by the end of 2025.

"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.

KM Biologics said in an email it would cooperate with WHO as much as possible.

In the meantime, Gavi is coordinating with countries like the United States, which has had 50,000 doses available for donation for months. Bavarian Nordic has also donated 15,000 doses.

However, the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has been severely affected by the outbreak, has yet to make an official request for the shots, which Nishtar said was a delaying factor, along with arranging legal processes and deployment plans for vaccination.

In a press conference on Thursday, Congo's health minister Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba said the country needs 3 million vaccine doses.

"That's why it was important to wake up the international community," he said.