NEWISSUES
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Africa CDC, is in discussion with Bavarian Nordic on the transfer of technology to enable African manufacturers of Mpox vaccines.
Dr Jean Kaseya, Director-General of Africa CDC, announced this during the weekly Mpox media briefing on Tuesday.
The News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, reports that Bavarian Nordic is the sole global producer of the Mpox vaccine.
Kaseya expressed gratitude to the company for agreeing to the technology transfer, which would allow Africa to manufacture its vaccines.
He explained that Africa CDC aimed to have 10 million doses available by the end of 2025, adding that Bavarian Nordic had assured the organisation that the target was achievable.
He, however, said that while this represents a longer-term solution to the Mpox outbreak affecting 12 African countries, more immediate measures are needed.
He highlighted the need for donations from wealthier countries to address the crisis in the short term, referring to this as an “emergency humanitarian era.”
He also commended the European Union, EU, for procuring 215,000 vaccine doses for the continent.
“In the past week alone, Africa has seen an increase of 1,405 Mpox cases, bringing the official total to 18,910.
“The biggest increase was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicentre of the outbreak, which now has 17,794 cases, an increase of 1,030.
“However, armed conflict in eastern DRC is hampering efforts to curb the outbreak,” he said.
According to him, surveillance remains suboptimal in some countries.
“Other countries, including Burundi, the Central African Republic, and Nigeria, have also seen an uptick in cases.
“Burundi’s cases jumped from 265 to 572, while the Central African Republic’s cases increased from 206 to 263, and Nigeria’s from 24 to 39.
“No new cases were recorded in Cameroon, Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire, or Liberia. The total number of recorded deaths stands at 541,” he said.
