Bavarian Nordic signs agreement with UNICEF for one million mpox vaccines

(Reuters) -Bavarian Nordic said on Thursday it has signed an agreement with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for one million doses of its mpox vaccine, Jynneos, for countries in Africa impacted by the disease outbreak.

The agreement includes 500,000 doses of the vaccine previously committed by Gavi, a public-private alliance that co-funds vaccine purchases for low-income countries.

The Danish biotech said it would make all doses available for supply before the end of this year and work with partners to secure the availability of vaccines beyond 2024.

This is the first award of vaccines under an emergency tender issued by UNICEF to secure mpox vaccines for crisis-hit countries in collaboration with the Gavi alliance, Africa CDC and the World Health Organization, the company said.

(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)