Congo begins mpox vaccinations two months after global emergency is declared

Congolese authorities on Saturday began vaccination against mpox, nearly two months after the disease outbreak that spread from Congo to several African countries and beyond was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization.

The 265,000 doses donated to Congo by the European Union and the U.S. were rolled out in the eastern city of Goma in North Kivu province, where hospitals and health workers have been struggled to contain the new and possibly more infectious strain of mpox.

Congo, with about 30,000 suspected mpox cases and 859 deaths, accounts for more than 80% of all the cases and 99% of all the deaths reported in Africa this year. All of the Central African nation’s 26 provinces have recorded cases.

Although most mpox infections and deaths recorded in Congo are in children younger than 15, the doses being administered are only meant for adults and will be given to at-risk populations and front-line workers, Health Minister Roger Kamba said.

World & Nation

A new global mpox emergency: Where are the outbreaks and what is the WHO doing?

The World Health Organization declared the increasing spread of mpox in Africa a global emergency, warning the virus may spill across international borders.

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At least 3 million doses of the vaccine approved for use in children are expected from Japan in the coming days, Kamba said.

Mpox had been spreading mostly undetected for years in Africa before the disease prompted the 2022 global outbreak that saw wealthy countries quickly respond with vaccines from their stockpiles while Africa received limited doses despite pleas from its governments.

Unlike the 2022 outbreak, which was overwhelmingly focused in gay and bisexual men, mpox in Africa is being spread via sexual transmission as well as through close contact among children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups, Dr. Dimie Ogoina, the chair of WHO’s mpox emergency committee, recently told reporters.

More than 34,000 suspected cases and 866 deaths from the virus have been recorded across 16 countries in Africa this year — a 200% increase compared with the same period last year, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

But access to vaccines remains a challenge.

The continent of 1.4 billion people has only secured commitment for 5.9 million doses of mpox vaccines, expected to be available from October through December, Dr. Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa CDC, told reporters last week. Congo remains a priority, he said.

At the vaccination drive in Goma, Dr. Jean Bruno Kibunda, the WHO representative, warned that North Kivu province is at a risk of a major outbreak particularly in camps for displaced people, as one of the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis caused by armed violence unfolds there.

Eastern Congo has been beset by conflict for years, with more than 100 armed groups vying for a foothold in the mineral-rich area near the border with Rwanda. Some have been accused of carrying out mass killings.

Alonga writes for the Associated Press.