Nigeria will today receive its first dose of Mpox vaccines, 11, 200 donated by the United States of America and facilitated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
A statement by Gavi’s CEO Dr Sania Nishtar on Friday said the vaccines have been shipped to Abuja, after an agreement signed in November by Gavi to facilitate the donation of 305,000 doses of mpox vaccine to support the global and continental response.
On 24 September, the US announced its intention to donate up to 1 million doses to support the mpox emergency and began discussions to donate the first 305,000 of those through Gavi.
The doses, manufactured by Bavarian Nordic, have been allocated to affected countries through the Access and Allocation Mechanism (AAM) for mpox, led by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).
These doses are part of the 899,000 doses allocated through the AAM first round to nine African countries hardest hit by the mpox outbreak.
Nearly six million vaccine doses from multiple nations and organisations are expected to be available by the end of 2024. This includes 500,000 doses of the MVA-BN vaccine that Gavi procured utilising the First Response Fund in September, a month after PHEIC was declared.
Commenting on the agreement, Dr Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said: “We thank the US for these donations, which substantially strengthen the global mpox response. In addition to the 500,000 doses that Gavi procured directly in September through our First Response Fund, working with our donors, we now have legal frameworks in place to facilitate a substantial volume of additional pledged doses, which we will work with our partners to ensure are rolled out as quickly as possible.”
Gavi will also use the First Response Fund to cover the delivery costs of the doses it procures or facilitates. The funding was established this year in response to key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The donation through Gavi builds on the US government’s commitment to providing over a million mpox vaccines to international communities dealing with the current mpox outbreak,” said Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) Dawn O’Connell.
“Viruses don’t respect borders, and both international and domestic mpox coordination remains a top priority for ASPR.”
The allocation of the US doses, as per the AAM, includes the now-shipped and soon-to-be-delivered 11,200 doses to Nigeria.
Next year, 273,000 doses are planned for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and 19,600 doses for Rwanda.
Gavi said it is in discussion with the US regarding the remaining 695,020 doses, which will be allocated by the AAM when countries are ready to receive them.
In addition to facilitating donations from the US and Bavarian Nordic, Gavi said it has provided emergency cash support of US$ 2.7 million to DRC and US$ 1.5 million to Rwanda for the vaccine roll-out.
