• Vaccines will be delivered to countries affected by the upsurge of mpox that continues to constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). The first shipment of 11, 200 doses arrived in Nigeria on 20 December.

• Gavi CEO Dr Sania Nishtar: “We thank the US for these donations, which substantially strengthen the global mpox response. In addition to the 500,000 doses that Gavi procured directly in September through our First Response Fund, working with our donors, we now have legal frameworks in place to facilitate a substantial volume of additional pledged doses, which we will work with our partners to ensure are rolled out as quickly as possible.”

• Other Gavi mpox outbreak support thus far includes emergency funding to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Rwanda, and 500,000 directly procured vaccines alongside funding for delivery and other related costs.

A shipment of 11,200 doses, donated by the United States of America and facilitated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, have been shipped to Abuja, Nigeria, with delivery in the country on yesterday (Friday).

This follows agreements signed in November by Gavi to facilitate the donation of 305, 000 doses of mpox vaccine to support the global and continental response.

On 24 September, the US announced its intention to donate up to 1 million doses to support the mpox emergency and began discussions to donate the first 305,000 of those through Gavi.

The doses, manufactured by Bavarian Nordic, have been allocated to affected countries through the Access and Allocation Mechanism (AAM) for mpox, led by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO).

These doses are part of the 899,000 doses allocated through the AAM first round to nine African countries hardest hit by the mpox outbreak. Nearly six million vaccine doses from multiple nations and organisations are expected to be available by the end of 2024.

This includes 500,000 doses of the MVA-BN vaccine that Gavi procured utilising the First Response Fund in September, a month after PHEIC was declared.

Commenting on the agreement, Dr Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said:

“We thank the US for these donations, which substantially strengthen the global mpox response. In addition to the 500,000 doses that Gavi procured directly in September through our First Response Fund, working with our donors, we now have legal frameworks in place to facilitate a substantial volume of additional pledged doses, which we will work with our partners to ensure are rolled out as quickly as possible.”

Gavi will also use the First Response Fund to cover the delivery costs of the doses it procures or facilitates. The funding was established this year in response to key lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The donation through Gavi builds on the U.S. government’s commitment to providing over a million mpox vaccines to international communities dealing with the current mpox outbreak,” said Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) Dawn O’Connell. “Viruses don’t respect borders, and both international and domestic mpox coordination remains a top priority for ASPR.”

As per the AAM, the allocation of the US doses includes the now shipped and soon to be delivered 11,200 doses to Nigeria. Next year, 273,000 doses are planned for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and 19,600 doses for Rwanda. Gavi is in discussion with the US regarding the remaining 695,020 doses, which will be allocated by the AAM when countries are ready to receive them.

In addition to facilitating donations from the US and Bavarian Nordic, Gavi has provided emergency cash support of US$2.7 million to DRC and US$1.5 million to Rwanda for the vaccine roll-out.

In a statement on Friday, signed by Dr. Omoniyi Ibietan, secretary-general, APRA, the body said it is greatly concerned about the increasing terror attacks in Burkina Faso and in other parts of Africa.

“The umbrella body of practitioners and  professionals of  public relations in  Africa hereby calls for the cessation of all forms of attacks, especially on unarmed people. We call for dialogue as a more civil approach to resolving conflicts instead of violent attacks leading to destruction and catastrophic outcomes that leave the continent more devastated.

“We  are  gravely disturbed by  this recent attack in  Burkina Faso, coming on  the  heels of  the  death of over 500 persons due to mpox scourge caused by the monkeypox  virus  ravaging  the  Democratic Republic of  Congo, DRC, the hotbed of  the health crisis; and the distressing floods caused by  the collapse of the Arba’ at Dam in the east of the Republic of Sudan, destroying or impacting about 70 communities and affecting telecommunication infrastructure and other utilities. These and many emergent humanitarian crises in Africa have been overwhelming enough for a great but challenged continent. Therefore, entrenched terror attacks can only worsen efforts at restoring the glory of the continent.

“As a body of communication managers, APRA iterates its call for increased, sincere and responsible conversation and concrete actions among state actors and other stakeholders in  Africa  to  address these and future challenges, many of which are heralded by warning signs.

“Therefore, APRA calls on the World Health Organisation (WHO) to resume strengthening collaboration with  the  government  and people of DRC because mpox is yet to be defeated as an existential global health issue.

He said that APRA stands in solidarity with the Governments and people of Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Sudan.

“We  commiserate with those who have lost family members and friends. We also wish those injured and displaced speedy recovery”, the statement reads.

The agency, Wednesday, said a potential acceleration in the spread of mpox in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) could raise the risk that the virus and efforts to curb its impact hurt economic activity and weaken fiscal metrics in affected sover­eigns, in addition to the suffering of those affected.

Any fiscal impact under such a scenario would probably be partially offset by additional fi­nancing from donors and official and multilateral partners, it said.

The World Health Organ­isation declared the upsurge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and a growing number of African countries a public health emer­gency of international concern on August 14 .

Several Fitch-rated SSA sovereigns reported confirmed mpox cases in July-August, in­cluding Cote d’Ivoire (BB-/Sta­ble), Kenya (B-/Stable), Rwanda (B+/Stable), South Africa (BB-/ Stable) and Uganda (B+/Nega­tive).

In most of these, the number of confirmed mpox cases is very low, often in the single digits.

However, there could be un­derreporting in some countries and the emergency declaration highlights the potential for case numbers to rise sharply, bring­ing the prospect of financial pressure for affected sovereigns.

Fitch said virus outbreaks can have significant economic and fiscal effects, as was demon­strated by the Covid-19 pandem­ic and the 2014-2015 Ebola epi­demic in West Africa.

The latter shock resulted in sharply lower economic growth and a widen­ing of budget deficits in the main affected countries, Liberia, Guin­ea and Sierra Leone, although it is difficult to disaggregate the ef­fects of Ebola from those of the concurrent fall in commodity prices.

It said past outbreaks are also an imperfect guide to future risks.

“For example, mpox has so far had a significantly lower fatality rate than Ebola, which means economic activity may be less directly affected. There are also vaccines that are available to be deployed against mpox, though at present access to these vaccines remains relatively lim­ited in SSA. A previous public health emergency of interna­tional concern over a global mpox outbreak, lasting from July 2022 to May 2023, did not significantly impact key credit metrics for affected sovereigns.

“In the event of a substantial increase in mpox case counts, the main impact on economies from the virus and the measures to counter it would likely be on consumption and production.

Tourism could be hit – a poten­tially significant factor in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda – where UN Tourism data indicate tourism accounted for 11%, 20% and 19%, respectively, of total goods and services export earnings in 2022.

There could also be chal­lenges managing inflationary effects, especially if food produc­tion and/or logistics are signifi­cantly disrupted.

“Fiscal metrics would also be affected, with weaker economic activity depressing tax revenues, and higher government spend­ing on healthcare and epidem­ic-prevention measures. Interna­tional assistance could mitigate these effects, but its timing and size is uncertain. The World Bank has estimated that over 2014-2015 grants reached nearly 19% of GDP in Liberia, almost 10% of GDP in Sierra Leone and about 5% in Guinea. However, budget deficits in these countries were significantly wider on av­erage over the period, even in­cluding grants, than they were in 2013. Rating effects would depend on the severity and the longevity of the economic and fiscal impact of the virus and the availability and size of donor support”, it said.