Germany will donate 100,000 mpox vaccine doses from its military stocks to help contain the outbreak on the African continent in the short term as well as provide help to the affected countries, said a government spokesperson on Monday.
The government will provide the World Health Organization with flexible financial resources via various instruments to combat mpox and also support its partners in Africa through the GAVI vaccination alliance, added the spokesperson.
Germany has around 117,000 doses of Jynneos, which is being stockpiled by the German army after Berlin procured it in 2022. The donated vaccines are part of Germany’s stockpile of 117,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine, which the German army procured in 2022. While the majority of the stock will be donated, a small amount will be retained to protect traveling officials and for other necessary contingencies. Any decisions on reordering the vaccine will be made separately, according to a defense ministry spokesperson.
It will keep a minimum amount of stock, to protect travelling authorities, for example, said a defence ministry spokesperson on Monday. A separate decision would need to be made when it comes to reordering vaccines, he added.
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In addition to the vaccine donation, Germany plans to support the World Health Organisation (WHO) with flexible financial resources and aid African partners through the GAVI vaccination alliance. The aim is to enhance efforts to combat the spread of mpox, particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the outbreak originated, and in neighboring countries such as Burundi and other East African nations.
The World Health Organization has declared mpox a global public health emergency after an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo spread to neighbouring countries and a new form of the virus, clade Ib, triggered concerns about the speed of transmission.
The government was looking at the quickest way to get the vaccines to the affected countries, primarily the Democratic Republic of Congo, but also Burundi and neighbouring countries in East Africa, according to a foreign ministry spokesperson.
