WHO urges European govts to tackle mpox, support Africa

A senior official from the UN World Health Organization (WHO) has called on European governments to demonstrate robust political commitment in the battle against mpox while standing in solidarity with Africa.

This statement was made during a press briefing in Geneva on Tuesday by Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe.

Mr. Kluge emphasized that mpox should not be viewed through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic, insisting that it is “not the ‘new COVID’” and that the risk posed by mpox to the general population remains “low.” He firmly rejected comparisons between the rapidly spreading mpox virus, which the WHO declared an international public health emergency last week, and the COVID-19 crisis.

Discussing the ongoing outbreaks, Kluge noted that whether it concerns mpox clade 1, currently affecting east-central Africa, or mpox clade 2, which led to the 2022 outbreak in Europe, the situation requires focused attention. When asked if Europe would face COVID-19-like lockdowns, his response was a definitive “no.”

Speaking via video link from Copenhagen, Mr. Kluge reflected on the success of controlling the 2022 mpox outbreak in Europe, attributing the achievement to “the direct engagement with the most affected communities of men who have sex with men.” He highlighted that “behaviour change, non-discriminatory public health action, and mpox vaccination” were critical factors in addressing the outbreak. However, he lamented that the region “failed to go the last mile” in completely eliminating the disease, with approximately 100 new mpox clade II cases reported each month.

Last week, Sweden reported the first case of the mpox clade I variant outside Africa, which is linked to the ongoing outbreak spreading from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The case involved an individual who had traveled to an affected area in Africa.

The current alert status concerning clade 1, deemed more severe, allows European health authorities to intensify their focus on clade 2, with Mr. Kluge urging the need to eliminate it “once and for all.” He called for equitable vaccine access as a crucial aspect of European solidarity with Africa. The WHO recommends utilizing the MVA-BN or LC16 vaccines, or the ACAM2000 vaccine when the others are unavailable, all of which were initially developed against the now-eradicated smallpox.

WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević added that Bavarian Nordic, the producer of MVA-BN, “has capacity to manufacture 10 million doses by the end of 2025 and can already supply up to two million doses this year.” He also noted a “considerable” stockpile of the LC16 vaccine, produced on behalf of the Government of Japan, underscoring the potential for enhanced vaccination efforts in the fight against mpox.