Urgent efforts to roll out vaccines to tackle the Mpox international public health emergency in central and east Africa risk being hobbled by a lack of orders and logistical challenges, a leading vaccine manufacturer has said, as Sweden announced the first case outside Africa.
Cases of the outbreak have been detected in 13 African countries, with the majority in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. It said the continent needs 2mn vaccine doses by the end of the year to help control the outbreak.
Bavarian Nordic, which makes one of two Mpox jabs recommended by World Health Organization experts, said it has 300,000 doses of its Jynneos vaccine ready and enough production capacity to meet demand. But it faces challenges, including the jab’s lack of approval in some affected countries and the need for a cold supply chain, chief executive Paul Chaplin told the Financial Times.