Monkeypox: WHO announces arrival of first vaccines in Democratic Republic of Congo in coming days

“Six months”

“WHO is working to accelerate access to and distribution of vaccines,”Dr Tedros said, while stressing that vaccines were not the only tools to fight the disease.”“We believe we can end these epidemics in the next six months", he also assured.

The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE) recommends the use of MVA-BN and LC16 vaccines, which are produced by the Japanese company KM Biologics. However, they have not yet undergone full “prequalification” by WHO, a lengthy and complex process.

To address this situation, WHO has established an Emergency Use Listing, designed to expedite the availability of unlicensed medical products, such as vaccines needed in a public health emergency. Products on this list can thus be purchased and used by entities such as the UN children's agency UNICEF.

A targeted use of vaccines

Bavarian Nordic and KM Biologics finalized their application to WHO on August 23 and their review is ongoing, said WHO's Dr Mibongizi. But without waiting, “last week, I gave Gavi (the Vaccine Alliance, Editor's note) and UNICEF the green light to proceed with the procurement of vaccines, in parallel with the procedure for inclusion on the emergency list,” said Dr Tedros.

Furthermore, WHO is working with various partners to set up a coordination mechanism to allocate the donated doses. Dr Tedros also noted that the DRC itself approved both vaccines in June this year, and that the government has directly requested countries with large vaccine reserves to donate doses.

Finally, WHO is also working on plans to implement targeted use of the vaccines, as WHO does not advocate widespread vaccination, said Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO's chief of epidemic and pandemic preparedness.

On 27 August, the WHO Africa office announced that Nigeria had received 10,000 doses of the vaccines, becoming the first African country to receive, outside of clinical trials, doses to respond to the epidemic. These vaccines, from Bavarian Nordic, were donated by the United States.