Why Is Mpox Vaccine Not Reaching Africa?

The Mpox vaccine is not enough to contain the spread of Mpox and has not reached Africa, primarily due to negligence of the few million dollars required to purchase the vaccine. This Mpox, earlier referred to as Monkeypox, has garnered gargantuan attention across the globe, especially on the African continent. While vaccines have become usual all over the world today, most African nations are in a dilemma even as they struggle to access these fundamental weapons that can be used to combat disease in Africa. In this assessment, attention is turned to why Mpox vaccines are not reaching to Africa, noting impunity, systemic problems, logistical hurdles, and global inequalities that define the health calamity.

What vaccines against Mpox are available worldwide?

Several vaccines against Mpox exist worldwide; most target the virus, among other viruses, from the genus orthopoxviruses. The most relevant are:

• JYNNEOS (Imvamune/Imvanex): a third-generation vaccine approved in the U.S., Europe, and Canada. It is a non-replicating live virus vaccine against smallpox and mpox.
• ACAM2000: A second-generation vaccine licensed for use in the U.S., which is a replicating live virus. Special precautions must be undertaken due to possible side effects.
• LC16m8: Japanese vaccine, very highly attenuated for smallpox. Excellent safety record.

There is a Global Distribution of These Vaccines, and Many Countries Have Policies to Target Vaccination to High-Risk Populations and Control Outbreaks.

Limited Global Vaccine Supply

The supply of vaccines is limited globally mainly because the virus was not considered a significant international threat until these outbreaks. Most vaccines against Mpox come from a few companies; the dominant manufacturer, Bavarian Nordic, is in Denmark. It enormously limits the overall production levels and makes the global stock insufficient to be distributed equitably across different parts of the world.

• Production Bottlenecks: The JYNNEOS vaccine’s manufacturing process is complex and includes high biosafety standards. As a result, production rates are slowed down. Limited production sites and scaling-up challenges have constrained supply.
• High Demand from Developed Nations: Countries in Europe and North America that had never faced outbreaks of Mpox suddenly faced them and placed huge orders on the minimal vaccine supplies. Such prioritization has resulted in the scarcity of doses for Africa, the continent that has been living with the disease for decades.

Inequitable Distribution and Global Health Disparities

Similar to COVID-19, the distribution of vaccines against Mpox has avidly reflected disparities evident in other global health crises. Most available vaccines have gone to rich countries, leaving poor countries, especially in Africa, with inadequate access.

• Vaccine Nationalism: Many high-income countries have chosen to vaccinate their populations first, sometimes ordering quantities that surpass their current needs. In what is now termed vaccine nationalism, such practices have left many African countries toward the back of the queue, unable to secure enough doses.
• Lack of International Coordination: International organizations have strongly condemned the absence of an international unified strategy, and the WHO has demanded better and fair sharing of vaccines. Yet, rich nations continue to dominate procurement without signed contracts or ways to distribute it fairly.
• Low Bargaining Power of the African Nations: African nations are usually financially disadvantaged and do not possess enough leverage or power to compete in international markets. They also do not have an adequate say in the forums where decisions about the distribution of vaccines are made.

Logistical Challenges and Infrastructure Limitations

Overall, transportation issues plague product distribution, and there is also the problem of insufficient infrastructure. Addressing vaccine issues in these African countries also presents many hurdles; even once the vaccines exist, there is the challenge of how to distribute them and who will administer them.

• Cold Chain Requirements: Most populations of the JYNNEOS vaccine require low temperatures to avoid destruction from heat. Cold chains remain a big challenge for many African countries, especially in rural or remote areas with unreliable electricity. Storage facilities and transportation networks need to be stronger.
• Distribution Networks: Africa’s vast and varied geography complicates vaccine distribution. Lack of financing, a shortage of trained personnel, and frail health infrastructure contribute to further complications and ineffective vaccine rollout.
• Bureaucratic Delays: This problem might arise due to import regulations and customs clearance. The need to coordinate with different governmental and international bodies may slow down the rate of vaccine arrival and lead to an eventual slowdown in distribution to the targeted vulnerable people.

Lack of Funding and Funding Gaps

Navbar has not made the Mpox vaccine available in Africa due to financial constraints. Funding for vaccine procurement, distribution, and dispensing often relies heavily on international donors, who can be erratic and influenced by global political dynamics.

• Low domestic funding: Most African governments have low budgets for public health emergencies. It mainly fights measles, the lowest priority compared to other diseases like malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis. Since measles is a forgotten disease, no budget is set aside for it, which further impairs the continent’s inability to purchase and distribute vaccines.
• Dependence on International Donor Support: Most African countries depend on international donor support for vaccine procurement. However, this funding needs to be more timely and sufficient; thus, at times, there are shortfalls in activities responding to the Mpox result.

Lack of Public Awareness and Misinformation

However, it is now generally agreed that public awareness about Mpox and the necessity of vaccination is deficient in African countries. Studies have shown insufficient health education campaigns, and misinformation lead to vaccine hesitancy and low coverage.

• Misinformation and stigma: Several myths about the vaccine’s diseases and drug side effects impede the creation of demand for the vaccine. In addition, there is a stigma associated with Mpox, especially in the most rural areas, that deters people from getting vaccinated even when vaccines are made available.
• Limited Outreach Programs: Health outreach programs, which are usually underfunded or nonexistent in remote areas due to existing resource limitations, educate and mobilize communities to be successful in vaccine uptakes.

Other Health Emergencies Taking Precedence

Moreover, several health problems, ranging from HIV/AIDS and malaria to Ebola, continue to beset African countries. Such intractable health emergencies are more often the focus of attention and resources than emerging threats like Mpox, which will continue to attract little attention and resources for its vaccination efforts.

• Competing Health Priorities: Most governments are forced to respond to multiple public health threats with meager health resources. Diseases that promise higher mortality rates or long-standing epidemics have often received more significant funding and attention while pushing the newest threats, like Mpox, to the periphery.
• Health System Overload: Most African countries must be better equipped to handle other big health catastrophes due to the stress their healthcare systems have undergone since the COVID-19 pandemic. Such overload affects the region’s ability to accomplish effective vaccination campaigns for Mpox.

Political and Economic Instability

The availability and distribution of the Mpox vaccine are still hampered by political and economic issue in some African nations. It happened where conflicts, leadership, and financial issues may delay or complicate the distribution of vaccines and proper administration.

• Effects of Conflicts: Exposing people to armed violence and insecurity in regions such as the Sahel and parts of Central Africa diminishes access to health care, disrupts supply lines, and makes the environment unsafe for health workers to carry out vaccination campaigns.
• Economic Hardship: Economic instability whipped up by world inflation and reduced foreign investment diminishes governments’ investment in public health, such as the vaccine against Mpox.

Minimum Investment in Research and Development

African countries invest little in biotechnology and drug-making research and development, which explains why the continent’s contribution to supply in this area of the world is negligible. It positions the continent in a very vulnerable place regarding vaccine scarcity and unpredictability in supply.

• Inadequate Domestic Manufacturing Capacity: Most African countries are highly dependent on the importation of vaccines, having few producers because of international market forces and related supply constraints.
• Insufficient Health R&D Investment: Investments in health research and development in Africa are much higher than what is invested. Most funding for such initiatives originates from outside the continent rather than being generated domestically. This reduces efforts to find solutions to Mpox and other diseases endemic within the continent.

Why Africa Priced Out of Vaccines

Africa faces various obstacles to accessing MPOX vaccines, including high costs, low production, and unequal distribution. Many vaccines, such as JYNNEOS, are manufactured by pharmaceutical companies in high-income countries and thus are directed towards wealthier countries that can afford them. Logistical hurdles, patent restrictions, and a need for African manufacturing capacity further price out the region. Such a gap emphasizes the international response’s necessity to provide vaccine distribution that meets the urgent public health concerns in sensitive areas.

What challenges have African countries faced in vaccine supply regulation?

Some of the regulatory hurdles in the supply of vaccines in Africa include: Some of the regulatory hurdles in the supply of vaccines in Africa include:

• Cumbersome Approvals: Each country has a regulatory agency that implements various changes that may extend the time it takes to approve new vaccines.
• Lack of Harmonization: The overlapping jurisdictions of the R. A. regulatory authorities of African countries lead to inefficiencies, severely affecting approval and distribution.
• Limited Resources: In Africa, it is evident that the regulatory agencies may not be well equipped in terms of structures and personnel to assess and approve new vaccines on a short-term basis.
• Bureaucratic Challenges: The expenses regarding importation and customs duties, coupled with the requirements for compliance, also contribute to delivery.
• Intellectual Property and Licensing: Restrictive patent protection laws and the absence of a license agreement disrupt local production and distribution.

All these aspects reduce the speed of the vaccine’s distribution while raising the price and restricting the use of vaccines within the region.

Promises made by developed countries in the provision of vaccines

However, the developed nations have committed to providing vaccines to LMICs through mechanisms developed, including COVAX, bilateral donations, and funding.

Global Vaccine Sharing Initiatives

The COVAX facility was launched by CEPI, Gavi, pool member organizations, and partners in April 2020 to support the advancement of COVID-19 vaccines. COVAX was established to ensure that every country in the world received an affordable price for novel coronavirus vaccines through WHO Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the CEPI. The COVAX Facility works on the equitable distribution of vaccines, focusing on low-income and middle-income countries, most of which cannot compete in the present market to secure doses. Rich countries have pledged billions of dollars in financial support for this cause and promised to donate surplus vaccines.

• United States: It committed over $4 billion to COVAX and promised to donate hundreds of millions of doses, mainly of COVID-19 vaccines, to poor countries.
• European Union: The E.U. and its member states committed billions of euros in addition to millions of vaccine doses. They promised to support vaccine production and distribution efforts in Africa, adding other vulnerable areas.
• United Kingdom: When the program was launched, Britain pledged funds and millions of doses to COVAX, highlighting that global health crises demanded an international response.

Japan, Canada, and Other G7 Nations: Other affluent nations have contributed generously to COVAX by financing or dose-sharing.

Bilateral Donations

Beyond multilateral efforts such as COVAX, quite a few bilateral donations directly made from wealthy nations to specific countries help boost diplomatic ties between the donor and the recipient countries and address health concerns.

• Vaccine Diplomacy: It allows for the export of vaccine doses directly from one country to another in need. The U.S., China, and Russia have all sent vaccine shipments to countries worldwide. At times, donations have plugged essential gaps left by delays in shipments through COVAX, particularly in regions of Africa, Latin America, and Asia.

Supporting Local Vaccine Production

The developed countries have also committed to supporting the localization of vaccine production in Africa and the rest of the world. They fund technology transfer interventions and engage the local industry in increasing production capability.

• European Union Initiatives: These efforts are trying to reduce reliance on vaccine importation from other regions across the globe and build long-term security in the continent, and more so, Africa’s vaccine production abilities, by investing in such facilities.
• U.S. Support: The U.S. monetary support and aid helped vaccine production in countries such as South Africa, thus gradually shifting towards the regional production of vaccines.

Challenges and Shortcomings

Delivering vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, despite pledges, has proved much more complex:

• Delays in Delivery: Production problems and logistical difficulties, coupled with export curbs, have plunged many of these countries into failure regarding the timely receipt of promised vaccines. Vaccine nationalism has also come into play, with richer countries focusing on their populations first.
• Few Vaccine Donations: While there were substantive financial commitments, actual doses were often fewer than needed and, in a few instances, arrived near expiry.
• Logistical and Regulatory Barriers: Availing vaccines did not present as much difficulty as getting them into arms, given complex regulatory environments across countries, the shortage of cold-chain infrastructure, and the challenge of last-mile delivery to most remote or underserved areas.

Sustained Efforts and the Way Forward

There is an ongoing push to make good on promises with more haste, degree, and universality of vaccine equity worldwide. Rich countries are trying with international organizations to expedite donations, increase transparency, and raise local production capacity in Africa and elsewhere. But the story of Mpox and past pandemics makes it clear that more must be done to create a globally coordinated approach to vaccine accessibility in no region priced out or left behind in any future health crisis.

Conclusion

The factors influencing the delivery of Mpox vaccines in Africa include global inequities, logistical obstacles, financial constraints, and political barriers. A solution to this is through a worldwide partnership for equitable distribution of vaccines for COVID-19, more resource mobilization, infrastructural development, and enhanced global health governance. Should adequate measures not be taken, this imbalance in vaccination will continue to fuel cycles of outbreaks and public health crises in the continent, depriving the African nations of a significantly unfavorable standing vis-a-vis Mpox.

The G20 members have assured firm financial commitments towards developing vaccine supplies for LICs & LMICs through their Nial contributions, dose-sharing commitments, & supporting local manufacturing facilities. Implementing drugs to such a large extent has been complicated, pointing to the fact that there is a need for strong collaboration with other countries and sustainable supply chains for vaccines for equal distribution all across the globe.