The global vaccine alliance Gavi says it will buy 500,000 doses of vaccine against mpox to fight outbreaks of the disease in African countries.

The global vaccine group Gavi will buy 500,000 doses of Bavarian Nordic's mpox vaccine, its first purchase of the shot to help battle an outbreak in parts of Africa, the group said on Wednesday. In 2024,

The global vaccine group Gavi has ordered 500,000 mpox vaccine doses from the German-Danish company Bavarian Nordic. The UN Children's Fund is to deliver these to affected countries in Africa later this year,

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.

LONDON (Reuters) -Bavarian Nordic said on Thursday its mpox vaccine was approved by the EU's drug regulator for use in adolescents, bolstering the case for using the shot in the 12 to 17 age group to contain an outbreak in parts of Africa.

Bavarian Nordic A/S, one of the only companies with a vaccine approved for mpox, has received regulatory approval in Europe for the use of its jab for adolescents.

More than 26,500 mpox cases and 724 deaths have been reported in 15 African countries since the beginning of this year, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC),