The Netherlands will not send any of its 100,000 stockpiled Mpox virus vaccines to Africa where an outbreak has been declared a major emergency, health minister Fleur Agema confirmed on Thursday.

The doses the Netherlands has are needed to ensure that the country can protect its own citizens, Agema said in a briefing to parliament. The World Health Organisation has asked countries to donate vaccines because of the importance of halting the spread of the virus and to stave of the risk of an international epidemic.

The Dutch stockpile dates from 2019 and a large part will expire in September 2025. However, she said, the public health institute RIVM has confirmed that the Netherlands needs to keep 100,000 doses in hand to deal with a potential outbreak here.

Agema, who represents the far right PVV, said she had decided to wait until early next year when a new shipment of vaccines is due to be delivered to decide what to do. As soon as that has happened, the minister said, she will reconsider her position.

A number of countries, including Germany, Japan and the US have already made donations.

Agema said earlier this month the Netherlands will not yet send vaccines to Africa because she wanted to keep Dutch stocks in order.

The Netherlands was hit by an outbreak of milder form of Mpox in 2022, when over 1300 cases were reported. But the outbreak drew to an end in October 2022 and the vaccination campaign was wound down.

Nevertheless, the Clade 2 variant of the virus continues to circulate and people should still be aware of the risks, the RIVM said last week.

“At the time, people who were at risk were vaccinated and so some of the [vaccine] supply was used up,” virologist Marion Koopmans told the AD. “I would assume we don’t need all that to deal with a new outbreak in the Netherlands. Of course, you need to have some in stock, but not 100,000 doses.”

Suying Lai, head of humanitarian help group Oxfam Novib described the minister’s decision as “heartless”.

“The WHO and African countries say the situation is an international emergency,” she said. “In the Netherlands we have no cases and we have 100,000 vaccines which will expire next year.”