Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
EU Countries Scolded, Urged To Share Mpox Stockpiles With Africa Now
The European Commission has asked EU member countries to indicate whether they will donate mpox vaccines to Africa — and how many — by the end of August. France has already pledged 100,000 vaccines to Africa, to be donated via the EU. (O'Neill, 8/23)
“If countries have stockpiles that they’re not willing to share, then we are not going to be able to stop the next pandemic,” said Helen Rees, the chair of the World Health Organization’s African advisory group on immunization. “There needs to be a bit of a wake-up call to countries that are better resourced, that do have these vaccines and diagnostics, that very early on there needs to be sharing.” (Kew and Burden, 8/23)
The mpox case in a European traveler from Africa to Thailand that was reported yesterday has now been confirmed as caused by clade 1b, the deadly strain that has spread widely in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries. The patient is a 66-year-old European man who had arrived in Thailand last week from an unspecified African country in which mpox spreading, Reuters reported. Thailand's health ministry said his travels to Thailand included a stop in an unnamed Middle Eastern nation. (Wappes, 8/22)
Countries in Asia have ramped up precautions after cases of the new and deadlier strain of mpox, known as Clade 1b, was recently found outside the African continent. (Shan, 8/23)
Singapore has detected 13 cases of mpox Clade 2 infections this year, the health ministry said in a bulletin on Thursday. To date, all mpox infections in the city state have been the "less severe" Clade 2 infections, it added. (8/22)
Also —
An Aug. 18 Threads video shows a large crowd in a grassy field and several buildings in the distance. "Huge lines to get tested for monkeypox in Omaha, Nebraska. How are there this many stupid people in one place," reads the post. Our rating: False. The video doesn't show people lined up to get tested for mpox, formerly known as monkeypox. It shows a line for a campaign rally held by vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz on Aug. 17 in La Vista, Nebraska, a city spokesperson said. (Byik, 8/22)
