In race for monkeypox vaccines, experts see repeat of Covid-19 where wealthy nations have advantage
- While rich countries have ordered millions of vaccines to stop monkeypox within their borders, none have announced plans to share doses with Africa
- ‘If we’re not safe, the rest of the world is not safe,’ said Africa CDC’s acting director, Ahmed Ogwell
Moves by wealthy countries to buy large quantities of monkeypox vaccine, while declining to share doses with Africa, could leave millions of people unprotected against a more dangerous version of the disease and risk continued spillovers of the virus into humans, public health officials are warning.
Critics fear a repeat of the catastrophic inequity problems seen during the coronavirus pandemic.
“The mistakes we saw during the Covid-19 pandemic are already being repeated,” said Dr Boghuma Kabisen Titanji, an assistant professor of medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, US.
While rich countries have ordered millions of vaccines to stop monkeypox within their borders, none have announced plans to share doses with Africa, where a more lethal form of monkeypox is spreading than in the West.
To date, there have been more than 22,000 monkeypox cases reported in nearly 80 countries since May, with about 75 suspected deaths in Africa, mostly in Nigeria and Congo. On Friday, Brazil and Spain reported deaths linked to monkeypox, the first reported outside Africa. Spain reported a second monkeypox death on Saturday.
“The African countries dealing with monkeypox outbreaks for decades have been relegated to a footnote in conversations about the global response,” Titanji said.
Scientists say that, unlike campaigns to stop Covid-19, mass vaccinations against monkeypox will not be necessary. They think targeted use of the available doses, along with other measures, could shut down the expanding epidemics that were recently designated by the World Health Organization as a global health emergency.