Three weeks after the World Health Organisation declared Mpox a worldwide emergency, the first batch of Mpox vaccine has arrived in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The European Union (EU) contributed 100,000 doses of the MVA-BN vaccine, manufactured by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, via its health emergency agency.
Since the beginning of the year, the virus had caused more than 511 deaths and over 14,000 cases in the DRC as of August.
Following the release of the data, the African Union proclaimed a “public health emergency” due to the expanding pandemic throughout the continent.
As efforts to control the spread of the disease continue, another 100,000 are expected to be delivered on Saturday, Congolese authorities said.
UNICEF will manage the vaccination campaign in the most affected provinces of Kinshasa, but the start date of the vaccination drive is unclear, DRC’s Health Minister Roger Kamba said.
Western partners, particularly the EU and the US, have promised approximately 380,000 doses of Mpox vaccine.
This is less than 15% of the 3 million doses that authorities say are required to eliminate Mpox outbreaks in Congo, the epicenter of the global health calamity.
Mpox went mostly unnoticed in Africa for years before the disease broke out in more than 70 nations in 2022.
The disease has previously only been seen in intermittent epidemics in central and West Africa when people came into touch with diseased animals.
The WHO called Monkeypox “Mpox” owing to stigma concerns.
