Is Europe making the same mistake with mpox that it did with Covid vaccines?
Aug. 21, 2024, 10:41 a.m.
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As mpox spreads across Africa, there are worries that European developed nations might replicate the errors made during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Similar to the Covid-19 pandemic, apprehensions persist that Europe might hoard surplus vaccine doses even as those in dire need in Africa remain without vaccinations. These concerns arise as a deadly strain of mpox fuels the outbreak, which the World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared a global health emergency.
Advertisement Congo, which has recorded more than 90 per cent of mpox cases in Africa, has said it “would like the EU to pledge more”.
Hundreds of thousands of doses pledged to Africa
Europe has pledged to provide Africa with hundreds of thousands of doses, but that’s not enough as per the assessments from Africa.
Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba has said that his country alone needs 3.5 million doses and Africa would need around 10 million — far from the doses pledged so far.
The European Commission has procured around 175,000 doses for distribution to African countries, and Bavarian Nordic, the manufacturer, has contributed an additional 40,000 doses. France, under Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, has also announced plans to send a shipment of vaccines to Africa.
The largest donation commitment to date has come from Japan, pledging 3 million doses. The United States has also pledged to provide 50,000 doses.
But is Europe delivering all it can?
Evidence suggests that European nations still possess a substantial number of doses despite pledging hundreds of thousands to African countries.
Information compiled by Politico indicates that approximately 3 million doses are currently held by Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany.
The magazine reported that Spain possesses 500,000 vials, the Netherlands has 100,000 vials, and Germany holds approximately 117,000 doses.
A new vaccination technique enables a single vial to provide up to five doses. This implies that the vials possessed by these three nations could potentially deliver over 3 million doses, but it remains unclear if they have made individual commitments to Africa. However, Javier Padilla, Spain's Secretary of State for Health, informed Politico that the EU “cannot repeat the mistake of stockpiling vaccines in Europe while African countries are unable to administer them to their populations despite significant need.”
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