In a statement, the Ministry of Health emphasizes that the vaccines will be donated to “African countries, which have seen a significant increase in cases of this disease already declared by the World Health Organization as a ‘global public health emergency’”.

“Portugal currently has a stock of vaccines against the mpox virus and is willing to donate between 10% and 15% of this stock of vaccines”, indicates the office supervised by Ana Paula Martins.

Portugal is thus responding to the European Commission’s request to the Member States of the European Union (EU), last week, to make vaccines and medicines available to Africa.

“The Ministry of Health has already requested that the board of HERA (European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority) be informed of this intention and availability. The provision of vaccines will naturally depend on coordination at the European Union level,” it added.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health announced that it was evaluating the donation of vaccines to African countries, in accordance with its stock and internal needs.

Mpox is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans, but can also be transmitted between humans through physical contact, causing fever, muscle pain, and skin lesions.

A new strain (“clade 1b”) of mpox was detected in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRCongo) in September 2023 and then reported in several neighboring countries.

The resurgence in Africa is having a major impact on the Republic of Congo, DRCongo, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.

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