The world is better prepared for the current mpox outbreak thanks to the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Sania Nishtar, the head of Gavi, the vaccine alliance dedicated to aiding poorer nations with essential vaccines. Mpox, a disease caused by the mpox virus, was declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization (WHO) last month. Although cases have been reported in Asia and Europe, the outbreak is primarily concentrated in Africa, with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) being the worst-affected country so far.
Nishtar, a former Pakistani health minister, emphasized in an interview with AFP that the COVID-19 pandemic provided “important learnings” that are now being applied to the mpox response. “Those learnings cascaded into specific instruments that are now coming into play” against mpox, she stated.
The world was caught off guard when the COVID-19 outbreak first emerged in late 2019. It took several weeks for the WHO to declare it a global health emergency, and even longer to understand how it spread. The pandemic also highlighted the stark disparities between the Global North and Global South, as developed nations hoarded most of the vaccines while developing nations struggled to secure even minimal supplies.
Recognizing these past experiences, Gavi took proactive steps to be better positioned to respond to emergencies. In June, they established a $500 million First Response Fund to ensure swift access to cash for vaccines during health crises like the mpox outbreak. Nishtar announced that Gavi is allocating $50 million from this fund to procure vaccine doses for Africa and partially cover delivery and logistics costs.
“We are doing all we can,” Nishtar told AFP, emphasizing Gavi’s commitment to mounting a rapid response to mpox. On Wednesday, Gavi announced a deal with Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic for 500,000 doses of its MVA-BN mpox vaccine, specifically for Africa. Nishtar expressed satisfaction with Gavi’s swift action, highlighting that only 35 days had passed between the WHO’s emergency declaration and Gavi’s agreement with Bavarian Nordic. “It came as fast as you can get,” she added.
While these vaccine supplies are encouraging, the commitments so far are far from meeting Africa’s needs. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated the continent requires 10 million doses, but only 3.6 million doses have been committed so far, according to AFP.
It’s important to note that the current mpox outbreak differs from the one in 2022. While the 2022 outbreak was linked to a rave and sexual contact among men, the current outbreak primarily affects children. This time, the lesions are predominantly appearing on genitals, making them harder to detect than lesions on the chest, hands, and feet observed in previous outbreaks.
