COPENHAGEN, Aug 22, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic said Thursday that it was "better prepared" to supply its mpox vaccine for the current surge of the virus than it was for the 2022 epidemic.

     The vaccine maker said last week that it was ready to supply up to 10 million doses of its vaccine targeting mpox by the end of 2025, with some 500,000 doses currently in stock.

     According to the company, the level of "panic is not as high maybe as it was in 2022-2023."

     Speaking at a presentation of its quarterly earnings on Thursday, CEO Paul Chaplin said: "We are better prepared".

     "Not only have we built up inventory that supply the anticipated orders, we've also built up an inventory to allow us to potentially have a capacity for outbreaks which we currently find ourselves in," Chaplin explained.

     The World Health Organization (WHO) last week declared the rapid spread of the new, more dangerous mpox strain, dubbed Clade 1b, in Africa a public health emergency of international concern -- the highest alarm the UN agency can sound.

     The UN health agency has called for a major increase in vaccine production and said that a vaccination campaign must be a key priority for affected countries.

     Last week, the health agency of the African Union said some 200,000 vaccines would be deployed across Africa, thanks to agreements with the EU and the Danish drugmaker, whose vaccine was approved in 2019.

     While mpox has been known for decades, a new more deadly and more transmissible strain -- known as Clade 1b -- has driven the recent surge in cases.

     Clade 1b causes death in about 3.6 percent of cases, with children more at risk, according to the WHO.

     France this week announced that it would donate 100,000 mpox vaccine doses to countries suffering from the emergency and the United States has said it will donate 50,000 mpox vaccine doses to Democratic Republic of Congo, which has reported more than 16,000 cases and 500 deaths this year.