Germany to donate 100,000 mpox vaccine doses to combat outbreak in Africa

[August 26, 2024]  BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany will donate 100,000 mpox vaccine doses from its military stocks to help contain the outbreak on the African continent in the short term as well as provide help to the affected countries, said a government spokesperson on Monday.

The government will provide the World Health Organization with flexible financial resources via various instruments to combat mpox and also support its partners in Africa through the GAVI vaccination alliance, added the spokesperson.

Germany has around 117,000 doses of Jynneos, which is being stockpiled by the German army after Berlin procured it in 2022.

It will keep a minimum amount of stock, to protect travelling authorities, for example, said a defence ministry spokesperson on Monday. A separate decision would need to be made when it comes to reordering vaccines, he added.

The World Health Organization has declared mpox a global public health emergency after an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo spread to neighboring countries and a new form of the virus, clade Ib, triggered concerns about the speed of transmission.

A test tube labelled "Mpox virus positive" is held in this illustration taken August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

The government was looking at the quickest way to get the vaccines to the affected countries, primarily the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also Burundi and neighboring countries in East Africa, according to a foreign ministry spokesperson.

(Reporting by Miranda Murray, editing by Thomas Seythal)

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