Nairobi, Oct. 27 (EFE) .- The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) are in the final stages of negotiations for the continent to receive vaccine doses to prevent monkeypox, this employee agency announced today. from the African Union (AU).
“Negotiations are with partners who have an escort and we are negotiating access to that escort so we can use the vaccines on the continent,” Interim Africa CDC Director Ahmed Ogwell said today at a virtual press conference. .
Ogwell clarified that the agreement is not to “buy” the drugs, but to have access to the stored doses, but did not reveal who his interlocutor is or how many units they expect to receive, pending the completion of the talks.
“We hope to finalize the negotiations in the next few days. We need to distribute between 80,000 and 100,000 doses immediately,” he added.
Rich countries like the United States or European Union (EU) members are buying vaccines recommended so far to immunize against monkeypox, which was declared an international health emergency in July by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Among these is the vaccine Imnavex, authorized by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – where it is marketed under the name of Jynneos – against both smallpox and monkeypox.
There is also the ACAM2000 vaccine, which is approved by the FDA to prevent smallpox.
Ogwell denounced in July that the reasons why these drugs have not yet arrived in Africa “are the same ones that explain the delay in obtaining covid-19 vaccines or HIV treatment about 20 years ago. “: the intellectual property of these products and the lack of funds to acquire them.
“(The vaccines) are in the hands of those who have the most capacity or where those products are manufactured,” he added.
Ogwell was referring to the first accumulation of Covid-19 vaccines by rich countries during the first year of the pandemic, with Africa gaining access to the drugs long after the northern nations of the world.
Another major obstacle for African nations has been patents, which pharmaceutical companies have refused to issue, as well as the low capacity of the continent’s vaccine manufacturing sector, which imports 99% of what it consumes.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been around 6,890 cases of monkeypox in thirteen African countries – although the vast majority are probable and unconfirmed due to the initial lack of skilled laboratories – and 173 deaths, with a rate of mortality of 2.5%, second in Africa CDC.
The countries where the disease is endemic are instead all African: Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Ghana (where it was identified only in animals). EFE
lbg / pa / cg
� EFE 2022. The redistribution and redistribution of all or part of the contents of the EFE services is expressly prohibited, without the prior and express consent of Agencia EFE SA
