Following the similar commitments made by France and Austria last week, Germany has promised to donate 100,000 doses of the Money Pox (pox) vaccine to Africa. The continent is scheduled to receive 10,000 shots in the coming days, but the delays are due to the World Health Organization’s (WTO) red tape.
Long after being made available elsewhere in the world, the first batch of 10,000 pox vaccines, given by the United States, will finally make its way to the continent this week. To combat a potentially deadly new strain of the virus, the German government announced that it would be giving 100,000 doses of monkeypox vaccines to Africa from its military supplies.
A government spokesman also disclosed Germany’s intentions to support African partners in the GAVI vaccine alliance and provide the WHO with flexible funding alternatives. The German army now possesses about 117,000 doses of Jynneos, which it purchased in 2022.
Before this, France promised to distribute another 100,000 doses of the pox vaccine to the areas most impacted by the illness. According to Prime Minister Gabriel Attal, France will donate the vaccines as the nation prepares to open vaccination centers inside its borders. Austria also said last week that it will provide at least 34,000 doses—enough for up to 170,000 vaccinations—to Africa to help in the continent’s efforts to stop the virus’s spread.
The European Union and Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic, whose vaccine was approved in 2019, have agreements that, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), will allow the distribution of about 200,000 immunizations across the continent.