On Monday, Emergent BioSolutions announced that it will donate 50,000 doses of its smallpox vaccine, ACAM2000, to help tackle the mpox outbreak in Africa.
The countries currently battling the outbreak include the Democratic Republic of the Congo and nearby nations such as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years as a new variant of the virus, clade Ib, spreads rapidly across Africa.
The virus has also reached Sweden, marking the first time this new variant has been seen outside of Africa.
Although ACAM2000 is approved for smallpox, it has been used to fight mpox, even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet approved it specifically for this virus, according to Reuters.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) notes that ACAM2000 is a live, replicating virus vaccine with more risks and side effects than the Jynneos vaccine, which is approved for both smallpox and mpox.
One of the risks associated with ACAM2000 is the chance of myocarditis or pericarditis—inflammation around the heart muscle—affecting 1 in 175 people who receive the vaccine.
The shot is administered through a series of small pricks on the skin using a two-pronged needle. A scab forms at the injection site, taking 2-4 weeks to heal, and during that time, the live virus could spread to other parts of the body or to other people.
Because of these risks, ACAM2000 is not recommended for people with weakened immune systems, such as those with HIV.
This donation is intended to support efforts in Africa to control the spread of mpox and provide much-needed resources to the affected regions.
