Local production of the Mpox vaccine on the African continent will begin this year, confirmed the director general of the African Center for Disease Control (CDC Africa), Jean Kaseya.  

According to the Mozambique Communications Agency (AIM), in 2024, the Africa CDC partnered with Bavarian Nordic to improve vaccine manufacturing capabilities in Africa, in an initiative aimed at strengthening health security across the continent.

"At the moment, we are finalizing a few technical issues. As we speak, my team, the Nordic team in Bavaria and the African manufacturers are meeting, to finalize these few technical issues, so that Africa can start manufacturing vaccines in 2025", assured Jean Kaseya, at a press conference on Saturday, quoted by AIM.

Kaseya added that the bidding process and selection of manufacturers was highly competitive, capable bidders were identified to undertake the ambitious project.

"From day one, we've said that local manufacturing is our top priority in Africa. I wish I could say that it will start next month, but I won't say that because we are dealing with a serious problem, which may take a few more weeks. However, rest assured that we have clear commitments and agreements in place," he said.

According to the AIM publication, so far a total of eight countries have received vaccines, and five are already administering them. More than 544,000 people have been vaccinated. Twelve countries have granted Emergency Use Authorization for the MVA-BN vaccine.

Uganda has received more than 62,000 additional doses, and shipment arrangements for Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria and South Africa are already underway.

The organization has also noted high acceptance of the vaccine within communities, with more than 525,000 people in the DRC having received at least one dose. Children aged between one and 17 represent 39% of the total vaccinated population, while vaccination coverage in Kinshasa is 70% of the target population.

According to data from the Africa CDC, 30,041 cases of Mpox were reported in 2025, of which 7,049 were confirmed, with 306 deaths among suspected cases and 44 deaths among confirmed cases in 16 countries.

Sixteen of the 23 countries affected remain in the active phase of the outbreak, while seven are in the control phase.

"Suspected cases have stabilized in the last seven weeks. Confirmed cases are decreasing due to low testing coverage. The high mortality rates among confirmed cases are mainly from Uganda," added Kaseya.

Meanwhile, countries in the region continue to record new cases of Mpox, with Tanzania reporting 20 new cases since the last update on March 13, 2025, in the epidemiological week Kaseya also warned of the spread of a mutated variant, Clade Ia APOBEC3, reported in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo.