The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Friday that its partners, including Gavi and UNICEF, are permitted to begin purchasing mpox vaccines even before formal approval, as part of efforts to expedite vaccine distribution in Africa, where the virus outbreak is worsening.
Typically, organizations like Gavi, which assists lower-income countries in acquiring vaccines, are required to wait for WHO approval before making purchases. However, in this case, the WHO has relaxed its rules to facilitate early negotiations, as official approval is expected within the next few weeks.
Two vaccines, developed by Denmark’s Bavarian Nordic and Japan’s KM Biologics, have already received approval from regulators in several countries, including the United States and Japan, and have been widely administered for mpox since 2022. In the United States alone, approximately 1.2 million people have received the Bavarian Nordic vaccine. The WHO is anticipated to grant an emergency license for these vaccines in September, paving the way for broader use in the global fight against mpox.
