The Democratic Republic of Congo has launched its first vaccination campaign against mpox in the eastern city of Goma, targeting health workers and those with existing health issues. The vaccine drive began with hospital staff receiving doses on Saturday, with the wider rollout scheduled to start on Monday. The country’s Health Minister, Samuel-Roger Kamba, emphasized that the campaign would be limited due to a lack of resources, with only 265,000 doses currently available for a population of 100 million.
Additional doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive from France, Japan, and the United States, with US President Joe Biden pledging to donate one million doses to African nations. The World Health Organization’s Africa Director, Matshidiso Moeti, described the vaccine rollout as an important step in limiting the spread of the virus and ensuring community safety.
Since the start of 2024, the DRC has reported over 30,000 suspected and confirmed cases of mpox, resulting in 900 deaths. The highly contagious virus can be spread through close contact with infected individuals or animals, causing flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. A new, more infectious variant of mpox named clade Ib prompted the WHO to declare a public health emergency in August.
Mpox has been detected in 16 African countries this year, prompting the WHO to approve a PCR test to detect the virus. The DRC is awaiting approximately 4,500 tests from the WHO, although no arrival date has been provided. The vaccination campaign aims to curb the spread of mpox and protect vulnerable populations in the outbreak-affected region.
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