**GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued an urgent appeal to vaccine manufacturers to ramp up the production of mpox vaccines in response to a growing threat of a more dangerous strain of the virus. This call to action comes on the heels of the WHO declaring the recent mpox surge a public health emergency of international concern.
The declaration, made on Wednesday, brings attention to the alarming rise in Clade 1b mpox cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and their subsequent spread beyond the country’s borders.
“We do need the manufacturers to really scale up so that we’ve got access to many, many more vaccines,” WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris emphasized in a press briefing. The organization is also urging countries that have stockpiles of mpox vaccines to donate them to nations currently grappling with significant outbreaks.
Vaccine Landscape and Supply Challenges
Currently, two mpox vaccines are in use: MVA-BN, produced by the Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic, and Japan’s LC16. According to Harris, there are 500,000 doses of the MVA-BN vaccine in stock. An additional 2.4 million doses could be quickly produced if there was a firm commitment from buyers, and another 10 million doses could be available by 2025 pending procurement requests.
“LC16 is a vaccine that is not commercialized but produced on behalf of the government of Japan. There is a considerable stockpile of this vaccine,” Harris noted, adding that the WHO is collaborating with Tokyo to facilitate donations.
Advocacy and Access Issues
The medical charity Doctors Without Borders has called upon countries with vaccine stockpiles but no active outbreaks to donate as many doses as possible to affected areas in Africa. Additionally, the charity urged Bavarian Nordic to reduce its prices, citing that the high cost of MVA-BN makes it unattainable for many nations where mpox is a significant threat.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the world’s largest humanitarian network, has also voiced significant challenges in addressing the mpox crisis. Bronwyn Nichol, IFRC senior public health emergencies officer, pointed out that most vaccine stocks are in wealthy nations, and those sent to Africa thus far have been insufficient.
“There is a critical shortage of testing, treatment, and vaccines across the continent. These shortages are severely hampering the ability to contain the outbreak,” Nichol stated.
Diverse Virus Strains and Complex Outbreak Dynamics
There are two primary subtypes of the mpox virus: the more virulent and deadlier Clade 1, endemic to the Congo Basin in central Africa, and Clade 2, found in West Africa.
The upsurge in the DRC is driven by outbreaks of two different Clade 1 strains. The first outbreak in northwest DRC, previously known as Clade 1 now termed Clade 1a, predominantly affects children and spreads through multiple transmission modes. The second outbreak in northeastern DRC is a new offshoot called Clade 1b, initially detected in September of last year. This new strain is spreading rapidly, mainly through sexual transmission among adults.
The rapid spread of Clade 1b and its detection in neighboring countries serves as the primary catalyst behind the WHO’s highest level of alarm.
Coordinated Response Essential
“This is a complex picture, and responding to each of these outbreaks, and bringing them under control, will require a complex, comprehensive and coordinated international response,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted.
The WHO is poised to issue temporary recommendations to countries on managing the escalating mpox crisis, underscoring the widespread need for coordinated action and increased vaccine production.
This article aims to provide an updated, comprehensive understanding of the escalating mpox threat and emphasize the critical need for global cooperation in vaccine production and distribution.
