Rich nations have millions of mpox shots: Will they share with Africa? (www.reuters.com)

submitted 6 days ago by girlfreddy@lemmy.ca to c/world@lemmy.world

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Rich countries have several hundred million doses of vaccines that could help fight an mpox outbreak in Africa, where donated shots fall far short of what is needed, according to a Reuters tally of public statements, documents and estimates from non-governmental organizations.

The shots have been stockpiled for years by countries such as Japan, the United States and Canada in case smallpox, an eradicated disease that is the more dangerous cousin of mpox, ever makes a comeback. Some of the vaccines were used outside of Africa in 2022 when mpox spread globally.

A small fraction of those doses could help curb what is now the biggest mpox outbreak on record in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring countries, disease experts say.

Fewer than 4 million doses have been pledged for donation out of an estimated 18 million to 22 million that are needed to vaccinate 10 million people in the next six months, depending on the vaccine, Africa's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement.

all 8 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[-] nogooduser@lemmy.world 7 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

I think that we know the answer to that don’t we?

We’ll keep hold of them in case we need them regardless of the fact that using them now would drastically reduce the chances of us needing them later.

That’s ignoring the humane reason for sharing because that won’t be considered relevant to any decision made.

[-] Maeve@kbin.earth 3 points 6 days ago

That’s ignoring the humane reason for sharing because that won’t be considered relevant to any decision made.

It's more cost effective and otherwise practical to just do the right things; but that wouldn't be conducive to more profit, for a select few.

[-] Maeve@kbin.earth 1 points 6 days ago

I'm not sure if these vaccines lose efficacy after a time, but they certainly have expiration dates. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/nyregion/monkeypox-vaccine-jynneos-us.html

[-] HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com 3 points 6 days ago

I feel like we should keep them for half the expiration and then get them over there. Why do we scrimp so much on this type of stuff. Im under the impression its a relatively cheap process in bulk once developed which we already funded to get for ourselves. Honestly should be the same with blood tests. Both these things should be be covered by the government. Would love to see this as a first step to universal healthcare. but also send out the unused before they expire . jeesh.

[-] Maeve@kbin.earth 1 points 6 days ago

I'm wondering if it's like dairy and grain subsidies; if thrown away, corporate producers get paid more?

[-] MediaBiasFactChecker@lemmy.world -2 points 6 days ago

Reuters - News Source Context (Click to view Full Report)

Information for Reuters:

MBFC: Least Biased - Credibility: High - Factual Reporting: Very High - United Kingdom
Wikipedia about this source

Search topics on Ground.News

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/rich-nations-have-millions-mpox-shots-africas-outbreak-spreads-will-they-share-2024-09-12/

Media Bias Fact Check | bot support

this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2024

27 points (100.0% liked)

World News

38554 readers

3919 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Rule 1: posts have the following requirements:
- Post news articles only
- Video links are NOT articles and will be removed.
- Title must match the article headline
- Not United States Internal News
- Recent (Past 30 Days)
- Screenshots/links to other social media sites (Twitter/X/Facebook/Youtube/reddit, etc.) are explicitly forbidden, as are link shorteners.
Rule 2: Do not copy the entire article into your post. The key points in 1-2 paragraphs is allowed (even encouraged!), but large segments of articles posted in the body will result in the post being removed. If you have to stop and think "Is this fair use?", it probably isn't. Archive links, especially the ones created on link submission, are absolutely allowed but those that avoid paywalls are not.
Rule 3: Opinions articles, or Articles based on misinformation/propaganda may be removed. Sources that have a Low or Very Low factual reporting rating or MBFC Credibility Rating may be removed.
Rule 4: Posts or comments that are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist, anti-religious, or ableist will be removed. “Ironic” prejudice is just prejudiced.
Posts and comments must abide by the lemmy.world terms of service UPDATED AS OF 10/19
Rule 5: Keep it civil. It's OK to say the subject of an article is behaving like a (pejorative, pejorative). It's NOT OK to say another USER is (pejorative). Strong language is fine, just not directed at other members. Engage in good-faith and with respect! This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban.
Rule 6: Memes, spam, other low effort posting, reposts, misinformation, advocating violence, off-topic, trolling, offensive, regarding the moderators or meta in content may be removed at any time.
Rule 7: We didn't USED to need a rule about how many posts one could make in a day, then someone posted NINETEEN articles in a single day. Not comments, FULL ARTICLES. If you're posting more than say, 10 or so, consider going outside and touching grass. We reserve the right to limit over-posting so a single user does not dominate the front page.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.