France will donate 100,000 doses of measles vaccine to countries affected by the emergency as it prepares vaccination centres at home, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said.
Atal said that France will provide the vaccines through the European Union, AFP reported.
The World Health Organization declared a sharp increase in smallpox cases in Africa a public health emergency, and the United States said it would donate 50,000 doses of smallpox vaccine to the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The UN health agency called for a significant increase in vaccine production and said the vaccination campaign should be a top priority for affected countries.
Last week, the African Union health agency said about 200,000 vaccines would be distributed across Africa thanks to agreements with the EU and Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic, whose vaccine was approved in 2019.
About 232 vaccination sites have been prepared in case of a possible outbreak in France, Atal reported on the X social platform.
"Our goal is to be ready for all scenarios and all risks," he said.
No cases of measles have yet been registered in France. Last week, the Swedish Public Health Agency announced that it had registered a case of the more dangerous Clade 1b variant of monkeypox. | BGNES
