(Bloomberg) -- Bavarian Nordic A/S, one of a few companies with an approved mpox vaccine, is increasing the number of jabs it could supply to deal with an outbreak in Africa.
Bavarian, which has faced criticism over the high cost of its vaccines, is prioritizing supplying the inoculations to Africa with a plan to defer some other 2024 orders to next year, according to a statement on Thursday.
By 2025, the Danish developer can deliver as many as 13 million jabs to meet the immediate demand in the worst-hit areas in Africa, up from 10 million previously. That includes 2 million doses already this year.
Bavarian is also exploring “additional levers” to boost supply by another 50 million doses over the next 12 to 18 months, including transferring manufacturing to other companies in Africa and elsewhere, as well as improving manufacturing processes.
The Danish vaccine developer has so far shipped more than 250,000 doses and said another 500,000 jabs have been pledged by various countries, Bavarian said on Thursday.
Bavarian has already entered new supply contracts that include multi-year agreements with countries on different continents, including nations who have pledged vaccines for Africa, and has also responded to Unicef’s emergency tender that called for up to 2 million shots this year, it said.
The news comes as health experts are trying to assess the effectiveness of Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine, as well as older inoculations, after the spread of a potentially more dangerous clade Ib strain in central Africa triggered a global health emergency. A recent study showed a single dose of the Bavarian Nordic shot was about 58% effective in preventing mpox infection.
Bavarian said its financial guidance for 2024 remains unchanged.
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