Bavarian Nordic to donate mpox vaccine doses following African emergency declaration

[August 14, 2024]  (Reuters) - Danish biotech firm Bavarian Nordic said on Tuesday it will donate 40,000 doses of its mpox vaccine to Africa's top public health body, after the body declared an emergency.

Bavarian Nordic said that the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority will procure 175,420 doses of the vaccine and donate it to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Danish firm will donate an additional 40,000 doses.

Earlier today, Africa CDC declared a "public health emergency of continental security" following an mpox outbreak that spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighbouring countries.

The order from the European authority will have no impact on the Bavarian Nordic's overall financial guidance for 2024, the company further added.

A laboratory nurse, takes a sample from a child declared a suspected case of Mpox at the treatment centre in Munigi, following Mpox cases in Nyiragongo territory near Goma, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo July 19, 2024. REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi/File Photo

Mpox is a viral infection transmitted through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Most cases are mild but it can kill.

(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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