Africa, where monkeypox is endemic, does not receive vaccines

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Africa, the only continent where monkeypox is endemic, has yet to receive vaccines against the virus as the infectious disease spreads around the world, the continent’s top health authority said.

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Bloomberg News

Janice Q

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(Bloomberg) — Africa, the only continent where monkeypox is endemic, has yet to receive vaccines against the virus as the infectious disease spreads around the world, the continent’s top health authority said.

Although monkeypox was declared a public health emergency of international concern by the head of the World Health Organization at the weekend, the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has yet to secure any doses of the vaccinations, said Ahmed Oguel Uma, the agency’s deputy director. The WHO declaration moves the epidemic to the highest level of alert, helping to direct more resources globally to contain the outbreak.

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Ouma earlier said Africa must be first in line for monkeypox vaccines as it seeks to avoid a repeat of its battle to secure shots at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which has left the continent far behind wealthier nations .

“Let’s focus on where we can really stop monkeypox at its source,” he said at an online briefing on Thursday. Endemic countries in Africa are “the best place to start,” he said.

Africa has been battling monkeypox since the 1970s, with little international attention. Oguel Ouma said in May that there have been several waves of the disease in the past two years that have simply been brought under control. The disease has spread to around 16,000 people in more than 70 countries since cases were reported in May in countries including the UK, US and Canada.

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Africa’s CDC is in talks with developers to get vaccines “as soon as possible” for both monkeypox and smallpox, Ouma said. Vaccines for the last disease that has been eradicated can also be used against monkeypox.

Still, Africa is dealing with at least six significant disease outbreaks besides Covid-19 and monkeypox, including Marburg virus, Lassa fever, cholera, measles and wild polio, straining often limited resources.

The continent imports most of its vaccines and the drive to create a vaccine industry has faltered. Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd., Africa’s largest pharmaceutical company, has yet to receive orders for its Covid-19 vaccine, which it manufactures under license from Johnson & Johnson. With Covid-19, the vaccinations, while they arrived, it was difficult to convince people in Africa that they still needed them.

Aspen is available for “capacity filling opportunities” for monkeypox vaccines, the Durban, South Africa-based company said in a separate statement on Thursday.

(Updates with comment from fourth paragraph)