Canada is set to donate "up to 200,000" doses of the mpox vaccine, according to a government spokesperson on Wednesday. The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared mpox a global health emergency last month, marking the second time in two years. The exact number of doses of the Imvamune vaccine that Canada will donate will hinge on the receiving countries' capacity for storage and administration, as stated by a spokesperson for Canada's international development minister.
These donations aim to rectify the significant inequity that left African nations without access to the vaccines used during the global outbreak in 2022. Mpox, which spreads through close contact, typically causes mild symptoms but can be fatal in rare instances. It presents with flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body. The outbreak in Congo initially involved an endemic strain, clade I, but a new variant, clade Ib, appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact. This variant has spread from Congo to neighboring countries such as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, prompting the WHO's action.
Canada has not disclosed the recipients of the vaccines or the timeline for delivery. "Canada is collaborating closely with global health experts, including GAVI (the international vaccine alliance) and the WHO, to assess the scope of the outbreak and determine the best way to deliver vaccines as quickly as possible to those most in need," the government spokesperson wrote in an email. "We will provide further details once a delivery timeline has been finalized."
Health Canada has previously declined to reveal the number of mpox vaccine doses the country holds, citing "national security reasons." They only stated, "Canada has secured a sufficient supply of mpox vaccines to support provincial and territorial programs for the prevention and control of mpox in Canada." Based on past announcements from manufacturer Bavarian Nordic, Adam Houston, medical policy and advocacy adviser for Médecins Sans Frontières Canada, estimates that Canada has, conservatively, over two million doses of the mpox vaccine.
"We would like to see Canada first be more transparent about its own supplies and its own needs," Houston said prior to the announcement of the donation. "And then we would like to see transparency on its plans for what it's going to do with these vaccines. We believe the priority is that vaccines should be shared."
