Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — "The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is in talks with Bavarian Nordic to facilitate technology transfer for African manufacturers," said Dr. Jean Kaseya, the Director General of the Africa CDC, who addressed the continent on the Mpox outbreak and other health emergencies in Africa.
Dr. Kaseya called for the importance of collaboration between Bavarian Nordic and the African CDC to ensure vaccine accessibility.
"We have a clear plan to have these 10 million doses in Africa by the end of 2025," he said. Furthermore, he expressed gratitude for the European Union's assistance procuring 215,000 doses through its emergency humanitarian initiative.
Africa had experienced a 160% increase in Mpox cases compared to the same period in 2023
"We are working with all African member states to see how we can strengthen the supply and we can also strengthen the communication component to ensure a smooth introduction of this vaccine in Africa," said Dr. Kaseya.
"The most important one for me as Director-General of Africa CDC is to say every day, we need local manufacturing. I want to recognize and thank Bavaria Nordic for agreeing to do the tech transfer in Africa so that Africa can manufacture the vaccine at a lower price and without compromising on the quality."
The Danish biotechnology company Bavarian Nordic, played a crucial role in controlling the outbreak by rapidly developing the Jynneos vaccine, also known as Imvanex, during the initial outbreak of mpox in 2022 and 2023. It is the only company with mpox vaccine approval from the European Union, the U.S., and other countries. Following the recent declarations by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Africa CDC of mpox as a global health emergency for the second time in just over two years, Bavarian Nordic announced plans to scale up production, to deliver 2 million doses this year and 8 million doses by 2025 to help contain the virus in Africa. In line with these efforts, Africa CDC has committed to providing 10 million mpox vaccine doses by 2025, demonstrating its strong dedication to strengthening health security across the continent.
As of August 20th, 2024, Africa had experienced a 160% increase in Mpox cases compared to the same period in 2023, with a total of 18,910 cases and 541 deaths reported across 12 countries. "It means there is almost an increase of 1,400 cases in one week. We have also seen an increase in deaths, even if it's not well reflected here, with 24 additional deaths compared to the previous week. An alert is coming from Burundi, DRC, and Central African Republic, where we are observing a rise in both deaths and cases," he said.
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has been hit particularly hard, accounting for the majority of cases and deaths. He added that armed conflict in eastern DRC is hampering efforts to curb the outbreak. He then commended Angola's President João Lourenço's role in facilitating dialogue between DRC and Rwanda for a ceasefire, saying that this ceasefire is crucial, especially as mpox becomes a major issue in eastern DRC, particularly in South Kivu. The ceasefire, he said, will aid the government, partners, and Africa CDC in supporting the response efforts in the region.
"We need to consider the impacts following our declaration of a public health emergency of continental security, recognizing that the effects are growing and spreading not only in Africa but also to other continents, he said.
Dr. Kaseya also commended South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's call for solidarity within Africa and with international partners.
Ramaphosa, who is the African Union Champion on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response (PPPR), supported Africa CDC's declaration of Mpox as a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security. He said this "decision empowers Africa CDC to lead and coordinate response efforts across the continent, from community engagement to high-level political collaboration".
He appealed to the global community, partners, and organizations to mobilize stockpiles of vaccines and other health countermeasures for use in Africa through the mechanisms of Africa CDC to ensure fairness in distribution, transparency, and coordination. Ramaphosa urged for a more coordinated approach to ensure that, when Africa responds to this outbreak, all partners unite under the leadership of Africa CDC, as outlined in its statute approved by the heads of state.
"Africa requires robust support in funding, research, and the sharing of technologies, with financial contributions directed to the Africa Epidemic Fund under the leadership of Africa CDC," he said.
"We need to work together with all partners."
Congo Study Finds Tecovirimat Not Effective for Mpox
Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, a Congolese microbiologist and General Director of the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB), shared findings from a randomized, double-blind clinical trial conducted in Koli, Sankuru, and Tunda, Maniema. Despite challenging conditions, the trial concluded that tecovirimat used empirically during the 2022 Mpox outbreak, was ineffective.
"The time of legion resolution, both in patients treated with tecovirimat and in patients who received placebo, this time is not different," said Muyembe.
However, clinical trials in these regions failed to yield conclusive results due to a lack of cases. Unfortunately, cases continued in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), providing an opportunity to evaluate the drug's effectiveness. The study concluded that tecovirimat was not effective in reducing the time for lesion resolution, as there was no significant difference between patients treated with the drug and those given a placebo.
Muyembe said there was no significant difference in mortality rates between treated and untreated patients.
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These results are certainly discouraging, but they still give us hope
The antiviral drug tecovirimat did not reduce the duration of mpox lesions among children and adults with clade I mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), based on an initial analysis of data from a randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Despite these discouraging results, Muyembe said that proper care, including hydration, nutrition, and treatment of bacterial infections, reduced mortality rates from 3-4% to 1.7%. He suggested that increasing the dose of tecovirimat, given its safety, might improve outcomes and proposed a smaller follow-up study.
"These results are certainly discouraging, but they still give us hope," said Muyembe.
He said there is a need for a rigorous randomized study to evaluate these vaccines' effectiveness, as no conclusive evidence currently exists.
Muyembe called for renewed attention to public health measures learned from past epidemics like Ebola and Covid-19, including hygiene practices and precautions against sexual transmission, to prevent the spread of disease. "Ebola taught us that the disease can easily spread from person to person by touching the body fluids, and so on... Covid-19 has also taught us a lot, especially hand hygiene..."
"Unfortunately, we quickly forgot all this, but it is high time now that we put it all back in place," Muyembe said.
