World Health Organization invites Emergence Use Listing for development of Vaccines against Mpox

The World Health Organization is floating an open proposal inviting manufacturers of pharmaceutical products to submit Expression of Interest for Emergence Use Listing in coming up with vaccines against Monkeypox.

The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) announced recently that he has triggered the Expression of Interest for Emergency Use Listing (EUL) of Mpox Vaccines.

The decision comes given worrying trends in the disease’s spread in the Eastern parts of Africa.

There is a serious and growing outbreak of the illness in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that has now expanded outside the country to as far as Burundi and recently Kenya.

Already the other East African Community (EAC) countries of Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania have been placed on red alert against the disease.

According to the WHO a new viral strain, which first emerged in September 2023, has for the first time been detected outside DR Congo.

The Emergency Use Listing (EUL) procedure is an emergency use authorization process, specifically developed to expedite the availability of unlicensed medical products like vaccines that are needed in public health emergency situations.

This is a time-limited recommendation, based on a risk-benefit approach.

Now the World Health Organization is requesting manufacturers to submit data to ensure that the vaccines are safe, effective, of assured quality and suitable for the target populations.

Granting of an Emergency Use Listing will accelerate vaccine access particularly for those lower-income countries which have not yet issued their own national regulatory approval.

The EUL also enables partners including Gavi and the United Nations’ Children Fund (UNICEF) to procure vaccines for distribution.

Caused by the Monkeypox Virus, a species of the genus Orthopoxvirus, Mpox is an infectious viral illness. Symptoms include a rash that forms blisters and then crusts over, fever, and swollen lymph nodes.

Mpox can be transmitted to humans through physical contact with someone who is infectious, with contaminated materials, or with infected animals.

There are currently two vaccines in use against the disease, both of which have been recommended for use by the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE).