UNICEF seeks urgent Mpox vaccine supplies through emergency tender

• UNICEF, Gavi vaccine alliance, Africa CDC, and WHO collaborate to issue an emergency tender.
• Agreements for up to 12 million doses through 2025 could be made based on manufacturers’ production capacity.
• UNICEF will establish conditional supply agreements with vaccine manufacturers.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with the Gavi vaccine alliance, Africa CDC, and the World Health Organization, issued an emergency tender to secure mpox vaccines for crisis-hit countries, according to a joint statement released on Saturday.

The statement said that depending on manufacturers’ production capacity, agreements for up to 12 million doses through 2025 could be made. Under the tender, UNICEF will establish conditional supply agreements with vaccine manufacturers.

This approach will allow UNICEF to purchase and ship vaccines without delay once financing, demand, readiness, and regulatory requirements are confirmed. The collaboration will also involve working with the Vaccine Alliance, the Pan American Health Organization, Gavi, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and WHO to facilitate donations of vaccines from existing stockpiles in high-income countries.

The statement added that WHO is reviewing information submitted by manufacturers on August 23 and expects to complete the review for an emergency use listing by mid-September. The agency is also examining applications for emergency licenses for two vaccines produced by Bavarian Nordic and Japan’s KM Biologics.

Earlier in August, the WHO declared mpox a global public health emergency after an outbreak of the viral infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo spread to neighboring countries. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reported that Congo has seen more than 18,000 suspected mpox cases and 629 deaths this year, while Burundi has confirmed over 150 cases.

Sweden and Thailand have confirmed cases of the clade Ib type of the virus outside the Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighboring countries.

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