Gavi plans 500,000 Mpox vaccine doses for Africa

The Vaccine Alliance, Gavi, and Bavarian Nordic announced an Advance Purchase Agreement on Wednesday to secure 500,000 doses of the Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Bavarian Nordic mpox vaccine for countries in Africa affected by the monkeypox outbreak.

According to a press statement issued by Gavi, the doses are scheduled for delivery in 2024.

The statement noted that the vaccines would be funded by Gavi’s First Response Fund, a new financial mechanism created in June 2024 to quickly make funds available for vaccine purchases during health emergencies.

As of the end of week 35 in 2024, a total of 26,544 cases, including 5,732 confirmed cases and 724 deaths, have been reported from 15 African Union member states across all five regions of Africa, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

The MVA-BN vaccine received prequalification from the World Health Organisation on September 13. Bavarian Nordic is prepared to supply the vaccines once a supply agreement with UNICEF, Gavi’s alliance partner responsible for delivering the doses, is signed.

“The First Response Fund was designed in collaboration with Gavi donors and partners specifically to provide rapid early funding for emergencies such as mpox. Using it today to fund the first direct transaction for vaccines in support of equitable access and the global response, just over a month since mpox was declared a public health emergency, takes us a long way towards our goal of protecting those most at risk,” said Dr. Sania Nishtar, Chief Executive Officer of Gavi.

“We are committed to working with affected governments and our partners to turn these vaccines into vaccinations as quickly and effectively as possible and, over time, to build a global vaccine stockpile if sufficient funding is secured for Gavi’s work through 2030. We thank our donors for enabling us to act rapidly by committing funds to the First Response Fund before an emergency occurred.”

Paul Chaplin, President & CEO of Bavarian Nordic, said, “We are pleased to sign this agreement and strengthen our commitment to support Gavi and other global health partners, who have demonstrated strong leadership in making life-saving vaccines available for vulnerable populations in developing countries for decades.

“The doses secured through this agreement will significantly increase the availability of mpox vaccines for African countries, and we are pleased that Gavi has selected our MVA-BN vaccine, which proved highly effective during the global mpox outbreak in 2022.”

In addition to activating the First Response Fund, approved by the Gavi Board in June, Gavi moved quickly to trigger the mechanism following the declaration of mpox as a public health emergency. The organization unlocked emergency funding for affected countries to begin preparations for vaccine rollout, such as training healthcare workers and engaging communities. Gavi is also working with donors and partners to help facilitate dose donations.

“Medium- and longer-term measures that are expected to support the mpox response include authorization from Gavi’s Board, contingent on donor funding for Gavi’s next strategic period, to establish a stockpile of mpox vaccines for future outbreaks. In the long term, Gavi aims to contribute to the establishment of a sustainable vaccine manufacturing industry in Africa through the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator, which was also launched in June.”

The statement also highlighted that this Advance Purchase Agreement follows the delivery of over a quarter of a million doses of Bavarian Nordic vaccines to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, donated by other nations and Bavarian Nordic. The doses will be allocated to those most in need according to WHO’s Access and Allocation Mechanism, published on September 13.

The MVA-BN is the only non-replicating mpox vaccine approved in the U.S., Switzerland, and Singapore.

Originally developed as a smallpox vaccine in collaboration with the U.S. government to ensure a supply of smallpox vaccines for the entire population—including immunocompromised individuals who are not recommended to receive traditional replicating smallpox vaccines—MVA-BN has been indicated for use in the general adult population, particularly those at risk for smallpox or mpox infection.

Bavarian Nordic has been a long-term supplier of the vaccine to national stockpiles and played a critical role during the 2022-2023 mpox outbreak.