In response to the ongoing mpox outbreak in crisis-hit countries, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has issued an emergency tender to procure vaccines, collaborating with the Gavi vaccine alliance, Africa CDC, and the World Health Organization (WHO).
This joint effort, announced in a statement on Saturday, aims to secure up to 12 million doses of mpox vaccines through 2025, depending on manufacturers’ production capacity.
UNICEF plans to establish conditional supply agreements with vaccine manufacturers, ensuring that vaccines can be swiftly purchased and shipped once financing, demand, readiness, and regulatory conditions are met. The collaboration also involves the Pan American Health Organization and will enable donations from existing vaccine stockpiles in high-income countries.
The WHO is currently reviewing information from manufacturers, including Bavarian Nordic and Japan’s KM Biologics, and expects to complete an emergency use listing by mid-September. This follows the WHO’s declaration of mpox as a global public health emergency earlier in August, prompted by an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo that has since spread to neighboring countries.
To date, the Democratic Republic of Congo has reported over 18,000 suspected cases of mpox this year, with 629 deaths, while more than 150 cases have been confirmed in Burundi. Sweden and Thailand have also reported cases of the clade Ib type of the virus, marking its spread beyond the central African region.
