Global monkeypox vaccine race sparks fears that poorer nations will lose out

Doses of monkeypox vaccine ready to be injected at a Chicago clinic in the United States last week. Poorer countries are likely to be at the back of queue. Photograph: Eric Cox/Reuters

A scramble for monkeypox vaccines is under way, with 35 countries vying for access to the 16.4m doses that exist so far, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and a risk that low-income countries may lose out.

Meg Doherty, WHO’s director of Global HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections Programmes, said there was “quite a possible risk” that the countries bidding for supplies would be high-income countries.