Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
The European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority, HERA, will purchase and donate 175,420 doses of the MVA-BN® vaccine, the only one approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and the European Medicines Agency, as an immediate response to the chickenpox outbreak in Africa. In addition, the pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic will donate 40,000 doses to HERA. The Africa CDC will distribute the vaccines according to regional needs to affected countries. Furthermore, HERA is collaborating with the Africa CDC to expand access to chickenpox diagnostics and sequencing in the region, with a grant of €3.5 million expected in early autumn.
The Africa CDC declared a public health emergency of continental security on 13 August, in response to the growing public health concern across the region. The Africa CDC has called on the international community to support its efforts to mobilize 2 million vaccines, a call to which HERA responded immediately.

MVA-BN or Modified Vaccinia Ankara-Bavarian Nordic is a non-replicating smallpox vaccine and the only mpox vaccine approved in the European Union/European Economic Area and the United Kingdom (marketed as IMVANEX®), the United States and Switzerland (marketed as JYNNEOS®), and in Canada (marketed as IMVAMUNE®). MVA-BN is indicated for use in the general adult population (18 years and older) in individuals considered at risk of smallpox or mpox.

Currently, only two African countries have granted emergency use authorization for MVA-BN, but last week the World Health Organization asked Bavarian Nordic to submit an expression of interest to list the vaccine for emergency use, which could speed up its access to African countries where national regulatory approvals have not yet been established. HERA has been working with Bavarian Nordic since the mpox outbreak in 2022, initially through direct purchasing agreements, followed by the signing of a joint purchasing agreement that enabled EU Member States, additional European Economic Area (EEA) countries and Western Balkan countries to purchase the mpox vaccine for national use.