Largest FIFA Tournament in History Expected to Draw 6.5 Million Attendees Across North America and More Than 1.2 Million International Visitors to U.S. Host Cities Amid Growing Concerns Regarding Mpox, Ebola, Hantavirus, Measles, and Other Emerging Infectious Disease Threats

ATLANTA, GA - June 1, 2026 (NEWMEDIAWIRE) - GeoVax Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: GOVX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing vaccines and immunotherapies for infectious diseases and cancer, today welcomed the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 and highlighted the importance of public health readiness, healthcare capacity, and biodefense capabilities as North America prepares to host the largest sporting event in history.

According to a recent economic impact analysis conducted by Oxford Economics and Tourism Economics, FIFA World Cup 2026 is expected to attract approximately 6.5 million attendees across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, including more than 1.2 million international visitors traveling to U.S. host cities alone. For public health authorities, healthcare systems, emergency management agencies, and national security planners, the tournament represents a real-world test of disease surveillance, healthcare capacity, emergency response coordination, vaccine availability, and critical public health infrastructure at a scale rarely encountered outside of a global crisis.

The event arrives amid a period of increasing infectious disease activity marked by ongoing Clade I mpox transmission, the escalating Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, renewed concern surrounding zoonotic pathogens such as hantavirus and avian influenza, and growing measles outbreaks in multiple regions. Together, these developments reinforce a broader reality: biological threats are becoming more global, more interconnected, and increasingly simultaneous.

"FIFA 2026 represents more than a sporting event. It is a large-scale operational challenge occurring in an era of persistent biological risk," said David A. Dodd, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GeoVax. "When millions of people move across borders, transportation networks, and densely populated urban environments over a compressed period of time, health security becomes an operational necessity. The ability to detect, monitor, and respond rapidly to emerging infectious disease threats will be as important as the infrastructure supporting the tournament itself."

Mass gatherings do not create outbreaks. However, they can amplify the operational consequences of existing vulnerabilities. Millions of visitors moving through airports, public transportation systems, hotels, entertainment venues, and urban centers create conditions that test disease surveillance systems, laboratory capacity, healthcare surge capabilities, public communication networks, and cross-jurisdictional coordination.

Recent outbreaks have reinforced the reality that governments can no longer focus on a single pathogen at a time. The continued spread of mpox beyond historically endemic regions, the emergence of more virulent viral strains, and the ongoing Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, which currently lacks a broadly licensed vaccine specifically approved for widespread deployment, underscore the need for flexible response capabilities able to address multiple evolving threats simultaneously.

"The central challenge is no longer responding to a single outbreak," continued Dodd. "Governments and health systems increasingly require the ability to manage multiple biological threats at once. Health security today means more than surveillance. It requires manufacturing capacity, supply-chain diversification, stockpile availability, operational coordination, and the ability to rapidly deploy effective countermeasures when and where they are needed."

GeoVax believes several priorities warrant increased attention as FIFA 2026 approaches:

• Expanding domestic vaccine manufacturing capacity
• Diversifying critical medical countermeasure supply chains
• Enhancing disease surveillance and rapid-response capabilities
• Supporting adaptable vaccine platform technologies
• Strengthening public-private health security partnerships
• Improving stockpile management and deployment logistics

A New Era of Biological Risk

The World Cup does not create vulnerabilities. It has the potential to expose them.

Recent mpox outbreaks demonstrated how rapidly demand for vaccines and medical countermeasures can outpace available supply. The Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak has highlighted continuing gaps in available tools for emerging pathogen variants. At the same time, concerns regarding zoonotic spillover events, international mobility, and supply-chain concentration have reinforced the importance of scalable manufacturing capacity, diversified sourcing, flexible vaccine technologies, and geographically distributed biodefense infrastructure.

The ongoing mpox environment has also highlighted the strategic importance of poxvirus vaccine availability. Today, global supply of MVA-based poxvirus vaccines remains concentrated among a single non-U.S. manufacturer, creating potential constraints during periods of heightened demand. Expanding manufacturing capacity and strengthening supply diversity may play an important role in future health security efforts.

GeoVax's development portfolio is anchored by GEO-MVA, an MVA-based poxvirus vaccine candidate being advanced for protection against mpox and smallpox and intended to support a more diversified global poxvirus vaccine supply. GeoVax is also advancing Gedeptin®, an immuno-oncology program designed to enhance anti-tumor immune responses in solid tumors. The Company's broader technology portfolio includes preclinical vaccine candidates targeting hemorrhagic fever pathogens, including Ebola and Marburg viruses, which have demonstrated encouraging efficacy in animal studies and may provide future strategic optionality for biodefense and global health applications.

"As the world comes together to celebrate FIFA World Cup 2026, we extend our congratulations to the athletes who have dedicated years to reaching this global stage and to the organizers responsible for bringing this remarkable event to life," concluded Dodd. "The success of gatherings like these depends not only on what happens on the field, but also on the public health systems, healthcare infrastructure, and operational planning that support them behind the scenes. By investing in manufacturing capacity, disease surveillance, and biodefense capabilities today, we can help ensure that the world's attention remains focused where it belongs - on the athletes, the competition, and the spirit of international cooperation."

About GeoVax

GeoVax Labs, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of vaccines and immunotherapies addressing high-consequence infectious diseases and solid tumor cancers. GeoVax’s priority program is GEO-MVA, a Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA)–based vaccine targeting mpox and smallpox. The program is advancing under an expedited regulatory pathway, with plans to initiate a pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial in the second half of 2026, to address critical global needs for expanded orthopoxvirus vaccine supply and biodefense preparedness. In oncology, GeoVax is developing Gedeptin®, a gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT) designed to enhance immune checkpoint inhibitor activity. Gedeptin has completed a multicenter Phase 1/2 clinical trial in advanced head and neck cancer and is being advanced into combination strategies, including planned neoadjuvant and first-line settings. GeoVax maintains a global intellectual property portfolio supporting its infectious disease and oncology programs and continues to evaluate strategic partnerships and funding opportunities aligned with its development priorities. For more information, visit www.geovax.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains forward-looking statements regarding GeoVax’s business plans. The words “believe,” “look forward to,” “may,” “estimate,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “should,” “plan,” “could,” “target,” “potential,” “is likely,” “will,” “expect” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We have based these forward-looking statements largely on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends that we believe may affect our financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and financial needs. Actual results may differ materially from those included in these statements due to a variety of factors, including whether: GeoVax is able to obtain acceptable results from ongoing or future clinical trials of its investigational products, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines can provoke the desired responses, and those products or vaccines can be used effectively, GeoVax’s viral vector technology adequately amplifies immune responses to cancer antigens, GeoVax can develop and manufacture its immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines with the desired characteristics in a timely manner, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines will be safe for human use, GeoVax’s vaccines will effectively prevent targeted infections in humans, GeoVax’s immuno-oncology products and preventative vaccines will receive regulatory approvals necessary to be licensed and marketed, GeoVax raises required capital to complete development, there is development of competitive products that may be more effective or easier to use than GeoVax’s products, GeoVax will be able to enter into favorable manufacturing and distribution agreements, and other factors, over which GeoVax has no control.

Further information on our risk factors is contained in our periodic reports on Form 10-Q and Form 10-K that we have filed and will file with the SEC. Any forward-looking statement made by us herein speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise, except as may be required by law.

Company Contact:
info@geovax.com
678-384-7220

Media Contact:
Jessica Starman
media@geovax.com

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