France is set to provide 100,000 doses of the mpox vaccine to nations in crisis, while preparing vaccination centers domestically, announced Prime Minister Gabriel Attal on Tuesday.
Attal mentioned that France will channel the vaccine donations through the European Union. The World Health Organisation has categorized the mpox outbreak in Africa as an international health emergency. Concurrently, the United States has pledged to donate 50,000 mpox vaccine doses to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The UN health agency has emphasized the need for a significant boost in vaccine manufacturing and highlighted the importance of vaccination campaigns for affected countries.
Last week, the African Union's health agency revealed plans to distribute approximately 200,000 vaccines across Africa, facilitated by partnerships with the EU and Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic, whose vaccine received approval in 2019. In anticipation of a potential outbreak, France has established 232 vaccination sites, as disclosed by Attal on the X social media platform. "Our goal is to be prepared for any scenario and risk," he stated. No cases of mpox have been reported in France to date.
Meanwhile, Sweden's Public Health Agency recently reported a case involving the more virulent Clade 1b variant of mpox. Although this marks the first case in Europe, the infection occurred during a visit to an affected African country. The virus has ravaged the Democratic Republic of Congo, resulting in over 570 fatalities this year, according to the government's latest update. Outbreaks have also been noted in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda since July.
