WHO Approves First Mpox Vaccine In Effort To Combat Disease In Africa

The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved Bavarian Nordic's MVA-BN vaccine, marking it as the first vaccine to combat mpox. The health agency said on Friday that the prequalification approval is expected to facilitate timely and increased access to this product in communities with urgent need, to reduce transmission and help contain the outbreak. 

According to the WHO, the MVA-BN vaccine can be administered in people over 18 years of age as a 2-dose injection given 4 weeks apart. The UN agency officially declared Mpox a global public health emergency on August 14, following the mpox outbreak in Congo and other countries. This year, there were 25 237 suspected and confirmed cases and 723 deaths from different outbreaks in 14 countries of the African region. 

“This first prequalification of a vaccine against mpox is an important step in our fight against the disease, both in the context of the current outbreaks in Africa, and in future,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, in the statement. Meanwhile, WHO also mentioned that a single-dose MVA-BN vaccine given before exposure has an estimated 76% effectiveness in protecting people against mpox, with the 2-dose schedule achieving an estimated 82% effectiveness.