UK government buys more than 150,000 doses of Bavarian Nordic’s MPox vaccine

(Reuters) – The British government has ordered more than 150,000 doses of Bavarian Nordic’s MPox vaccine to boost preparedness to fight a new form of the virus currently spreading in African countries.

Although no cases of MPox clade I infection have yet been detected in the UK, the strain has spread rapidly beyond the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where the latest outbreak occurred, and to its neighbours.

“We are preparing for any cases that may occur in the UK and vaccination plays a key role in our defence,” said Susan Hopkins, chief medical adviser at the UK’s Health Security Agency.

The government plans to make the vaccine available to people eligible in stages, depending on clinical need.

The government has agreed that gay, bisexual or men who have sex with men, some healthcare workers and healthcare and humanitarian professionals travelling to affected countries, and people who have close contact with someone with a confirmed case of MPox infection, should receive the vaccine.

The World Health Organization approved Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine last Friday and set up a program to help deliver vaccines, tests and other treatments to the most vulnerable people in the world’s poorest countries.

Some countries have pledged to donate doses of MPox vaccines to African countries.

The European Union has pledged 215,000 doses to affected African countries and has called on its members to coordinate their donations rather than do so individually.

(Reporting by Sneha SK in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)