WHO urges monkeypox vaccine makers to scale up

"We really need manufacturers to scale up, so that more vaccines can be made available," said World Health Organization (WHO) spokeswoman Margaret Harris.

WHO calls on pharmaceutical companies to scale up production of monkeypox vaccine. (Source: Getty Images)

The appeal was made on August 17, and WHO is also asking countries with stockpiles of monkeypox vaccine to donate it to countries experiencing outbreaks.

On August 14, WHO declared monkeypox a global public health emergency (PHEIC), as the number of cases of Variant 1b increased dramatically in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spread beyond its borders.

"We really need manufacturers to scale up, so that more vaccines can be made available," WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris told reporters.

WHO is also asking countries with stockpiles of monkeypox vaccine to donate it to countries experiencing outbreaks.

The two monkeypox vaccines used in recent years are MVA-BN, produced by the Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic, and LC16, from Japan. According to Ms. Harris, Bavarian Nordic currently has 500,000 doses of MVA-BN in stock and the company can produce an additional 2.4 million doses if there is a commitment from the buyer. Bavarian Nordic is also expected to be able to produce an additional 10 million doses in 2025 when there is a specific purchase agreement.

In addition, Ms. Harris said: "LC16 is a vaccine that is not commercialized but is authorized for production by the Japanese Government . There is a significant stockpile of this vaccine," According to Ms. Harris, WHO is discussing with Tokyo to facilitate the donation of LC16 vaccine.

The charity Doctors Without Borders said countries with stockpiles of monkeypox vaccine but no outbreaks of the disease “should donate as much as possible” to affected countries in Africa. Doctors Without Borders called on Bavarian Nordic to reduce the price of the vaccine, as the current price of MVA-BN is out of reach for most countries where monkeypox is a threat.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) - the world's largest humanitarian organization - also said it faced significant challenges in addressing issues related to monkeypox.

Most vaccine stocks are in wealthy countries and few have been sent to Africa so far, said Bronwyn Nichol, a senior IFRC official. She said shortages of testing kits, treatments and vaccines were hampering efforts to contain the outbreak. She called for additional resources to help Africa respond to the outbreak of the new variant.

WHO will soon issue preliminary recommendations for countries on how to respond to monkeypox outbreaks. There are currently two subtypes of the virus: Variant 1, which is more virulent and potentially fatal, circulating in the Congo Basin (central Africa), and Variant 2, which circulates in West Africa.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus assessed the current epidemic situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo as being caused by two different outbreaks of the virus belonging to Variant 1. The first is the outbreak of Variant 1a in northwest Democratic Republic of Congo, which mainly affects children and spreads through multiple modes of transmission.

Next is the Variant 1b outbreak in northeastern DRC, first detected in September 2023 and spreading rapidly, mainly through sexual activity among adults.

The rapid spread of Variant 1b and the detection of cases of this variant in countries neighboring the DRC are the main reasons why WHO raised the highest alert level for monkeypox.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/who-keu-goi-cac-nha-san-xuat-vaccine-dau-mua-khi-mo-rong-quy-mo-282927.html