Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic has signed a contract to supply 440,000 doses of its Mpox (monkeypox) vaccine to an undisclosed European country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) last week warned of the rapid spread of a new, more dangerous Mpox strain called Clade 1b. The WHO has declared a public health emergency of international concern - the highest level of alarm the UN agency can issue.
Manufacturer Bavarian Nordic said the order was expected and included in the company's forecasts for the year, AFP reported.
"The latest order was planned as part of our initial guidance for this year and as such will not affect the remaining capacity that is available to support governments and organizations to deal with the current WHO-declared emergency," said Paul Chaplin, chief executive of pharmaceutical company director.
The vaccine maker said last week it was ready to deliver up to 10 million doses of Mpox by the end of 2025.
The UN health agency called for a significant increase in vaccine production and stressed that the vaccination campaign should be a key priority for affected countries.
Last week, the African Union health agency said about 200,000 vaccines would be distributed on the continent, thanks to agreements with the EU and Bavarian Nordic, whose vaccine was approved in 2019.
This week, France announced it would donate 100,000 doses of Mpox vaccine to countries suffering the emergency, and the United States said it would donate 50,000 doses of Mpox vaccine to the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has reported more than 16,000 infections and 500 deaths this year.
On August 15, Sweden reported the first confirmed case of Clade 1b on the Old Continent. | BGNES
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