Several African and former Soviet nations have shown interest in purchasing Russia’s vaccine Orthopoxvac, developed by Siberia’s Vektor laboratory, Russia’s consumer and health watchdog has claimed.
The vaccine, created to combat both smallpox and mpox, was registered by Russia’s health ministry in 2022 after clinical trials. According to Vektor, the trials demonstrated the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness, though specific results have not been published.
Russia’s consumer and health watchdog made mention of the demand from countries in the Eurasian Economic Union, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and African nations most affected by mpox outbreaks. However, it did not specify which countries have expressed interest.
Mpox, a contagious viral infection spread through close contact, causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions; while most cases are mild, the disease can be fatal.
The recent interest in Orthopoxvac comes on the heels of an mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), prompting the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a global public health emergency in August. The outbreak in the DRC has since spread to neighboring countries and beyond, with authorities seeking to contain the virus. So far, the DRC and Rwanda have not commented on possible Russian vaccine purchases, while health officials in Burundi, Uganda, and Nigeria report no knowledge of active efforts to acquire it. In Uzbekistan, officials stated there is no need for the vaccine, as mpox cases have not been recorded.
In response to the outbreak, countries like the United States and France have pledged to donate doses of the two leading vaccines, produced by Bavarian Nordic and KM Biologics.
Despite Vektor’s ongoing work on Orthopoxvac since 2015, it has yet to publish comprehensive trial data or secure approval from regulators outside Russia. Russian health authorities have not disclosed how much of the vaccine is available, though the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports only two cases of mpox in Russia to date.
The lack of publicly available data on Orthopoxvac’s trial results may pose a barrier for countries evaluating the Russian vaccine against mpox.
Melissa Enoch
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