The chief executive of the global vaccine alliance Gavi, Sania Nishtar, informed Reuters on Friday that up to $500 million will be allocated to assist countries affected by the growing Mpox outbreak in Africa.
Nishtar clarified that the funds are accessible through the organization’s “First Response Fund,” which is designed to facilitate the acquisition and deployment of vaccines.
The move follows a public health emergency declared this week by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Africa.
The fund is primarily made up of surplus funds donated by governments and global health funders for the COVID-19 response. It was established after Gavi and other global health organizations were initially bypassed by high-income countries in early COVID-19 vaccine procurements.
“The money for the vaccines is ready to be tapped,” Nishtar said. However, she cautioned that challenges remain, among them official requests for vaccines from affected countries, and approvals of the vaccines from WHO.
Gavi and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which are collaborating on vaccine procurement, are unable to proceed with any purchases without WHO’s approval. The evaluation of the vaccines is expected to be completed by the WHO by September.
The CEO also mentioned that Gavi is engaged in discussions with manufacturers of the two widely-used mpox vaccines, Bavarian Nordic and KM Biologics.
Bavarian Nordic, with the capacity to produce 10 million doses by the end of 2025, told Reuters that “they can easily handle the delivery of all the doses needed for the outbreak.”
“We need someone to buy the doses. No organizations have shown interest so far,” the company’s spokesperson added.
KM Biologics has also expressed its willingness to cooperate with the WHO “as much as possible,” Reuters wrote.