Mpox vaccine maker wants to ramp up production and may supply 2 million more doses this year

“mpox appears to remain a constant threat to public health,” Bavarian Nordic wrote in an update following a consultation with the African Union’s health agency, the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). The company makes the only MPox vaccines that have been approved in Europe and the United States. In addition to increasing production, the company has already built up inventory for the outbreak of the virus.

An international crisis

The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier this week named the outbreak of MPOX, also known as monkeypox, in the Democratic Republic of Congo as international crisis. A new variant of the disease, which has been circulating for decades, appears to be more infectious and pathogenic. The so-called clade 1b variant also occurs in other African countries and was confirmed in one person in Sweden on Thursday. This is the first country outside of Africa where the disease was discovered.

The Netherlands has vaccines in stock, but yesterday it emerged that Health Minister Fleur Agema does not yet provide MPox vaccines to African countries that need it. Donations can help prevent international outbreaks, Agema wrote. But although the disease has not yet been confirmed here, she first wants to be sure that the Netherlands has enough stock.

Epidemiologist Marion Koopmans believes that countries around the world should join forces to prevent its spread in Africa. “If we don’t stop that sooner or later, the rest of the world will be affected as well,” she said earlier this week.

In the video she explains whether we should worry in the Netherlands too:

Mpox spreads, among other things, through sexual contact, but infected people also include young people and children. According to the representative Bavarian Nordic, the people who are now infected in Africa are under the age of 18. That is why the company has sent data to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to to use the vaccine for people aged 12 to 17. In addition, the Danish manufacturer is conducting clinical studies in Africa to expand its use for children.