UNICEF issues emergency tender to secure mpox vaccines for crisis-hit nations

This tender will allow UNICEF to purchase and ship vaccines as soon as financing, demand, readiness, and regulatory requirements are confirmed.


Sumaya Hatungimana, 12, shows the marks on her hands after recovering from mpox, outside her house in Kinama zone, in Bujumbura, Burundi, August 28, 2024.

 (Photo - REUTERS)


Reuters
New Delhi

Sep 1, 2024 

In Short

Agreements for up to 12 million doses through 2025 possible

Unicef to set up supply agreements with manufacturers

Over 18,000 suspected mpox cases reported in Congo this year


The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) has issued an emergency tender to secure mpox vaccines for crisis-hit countries in collaboration with the Gavi vaccine alliance, Africa CDC and the World Health Organisation, the organisations said in a joint statement on Saturday.

Depending on the production capacity of manufacturers, agreements for up to 12 million doses through 2025 can be made, according to the statement.
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Under the tender, Unicef will set up conditional supply agreements with vaccine manufacturers, the statement said.
This will enable Unicef to purchase and ship vaccines without delay, once financing, demand, readiness and regulatory requirements are confirmed.

The collaboration - which would also include working with the Vaccine Alliance and the Pan American Health Organisation as well as with Gavi, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and WHO - would 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 a review for an emergency use listing by mid-September.

The agency is reviewing applications for emergency licences for two vaccines made by Bavarian Nordic BAVA.CO and Japan's KM Biologics.

Earlier in August, the WHO declared mpox a global public health emergency following an outbreak of the viral infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo that spread to neighbouring countries.

More than 18,000 suspected cases of mpox have been reported in Congo so far this year with 629 deaths, while over 150 cases have been confirmed in Burundi, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

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

Published By:
Ayush Bisht