AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today echoed Public Citizen’s call for Denmark-based Bavarian Nordic to take urgent action to ensure equitable access to mpox vaccines by sharing technology and know-how with regional vaccine manufacturers in Africa and lowering the price of its Jynneos vaccine for lower-income countries. AHF also urges wealthy nations with stockpiles of the Jynneos vaccine, particularly those without current mpox outbreaks, to donate doses to the most affected countries immediately.
“While a recent agreement to share vaccine technology with India is a step forward, it falls woefully short of addressing the urgent need for affordable mpox vaccines where they’re needed most,” said AHF Europe Bureau Chief Daniel Reijer. “With Africa still bearing the brunt of the mpox outbreak, Bavarian Nordic must prioritize Africa with lower costs, technology transfer, and regional manufacturing to ensure the most at-risk populations can be protected against mpox – a preventable disease with adequate vaccine access. We cannot continue repeating the inequities of COVID-19, where pharma companies and wealthy nations traded lives for obscenely high profits.”
The Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak, and several neighboring countries have reported more than 50,000 confirmed or suspected cases of mpox and more than 1,000 deaths, with children disproportionately affected. In the DRC, children under 15 account for roughly 60% of the cases and 85% of fatalities.
