The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has announced a groundbreaking agreement with Bavarian Nordic, the sole global producer of Mpox vaccines, to transfer technology and enable African manufacturing of the vaccines. Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director-General of Africa CDC, made the announcement during a weekly Mpox media briefing on Tuesday.
Kaseya expressed gratitude to Bavarian Nordic for agreeing to the technology transfer, which will empower Africa to produce its own vaccines. The Africa CDC aims to have 10 million doses available by the end of 2025, a target that Bavarian Nordic has assured is achievable.
While this deal represents a long-term solution to the Mpox outbreak affecting 12 African countries, Kaseya emphasized the need for more immediate measures to address the current crisis.
The technology transfer marks a significant step towards self-sufficiency in vaccine production and enhances Africa’s ability to respond to public health emergencies.
He also commended the European Union (EU) for procuring 215,000 vaccine doses for the continent.
“The biggest increase was in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the epicenter 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.
Dr. Kaseya announced that the Africa CDC, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), has established a unified African Incident Management Team to tackle the Mpox outbreak.
This joint effort comes in response to the outbreak being declared a Public Health Emergency, and aims to streamline and strengthen the continent’s response to the crisis.
