Spain has announced plans to donate 500,000 doses of the Mpox vaccine to Central African nations currently battling a surge in cases, according to a government statement on Tuesday.
The Spanish health ministry revealed that this donation represents 20% of the country’s Mpox vaccine reserves, although it did not specify the recipient nations or the delivery timeline.
Spain also urged its European Union counterparts to follow suit by donating 20% of their vaccine stockpiles, emphasizing the need to deploy vaccines where they are most needed, rather than stockpiling them in unaffected regions.
France and Germany have already committed to donating 100,000 doses each to countries facing Mpox outbreaks.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral infection transmitted from animals to humans and through close physical contact between people. Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, and skin lesions, and in severe cases, the disease can be fatal.
The recent resurgence of Mpox, along with the emergence of a new strain called Clade 1b in the Democratic Republic of Congo, led the World Health Organization (WHO) to issue its highest level of international alert on August 14.
While no Mpox cases have been reported in Spain, the seventy-fourth session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, currently underway in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, is focused on tackling the outbreak. The Regional Committee is the WHO’s decision-making body for Africa and meets annually to discuss policies and health initiatives across the continent.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) recently reported a sharp rise in Mpox cases across 13 African nations, with 591 deaths and over 21,466 cases recorded since January 2024. Of these, 3,350 cases have been confirmed, while 18,116 remain suspected.
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