Congo finally begins mpox vaccinations in a drive to slow outbreaks

The 265,000 doses donated by the EU and US were rolled out on Saturday. DR Congo has reported 30,000 suspected mpox cases and 859 deaths

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Clinicians get ready to administer mpox vaccines during the launch of the vaccination campaign at the General Hospital of Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday. Photo: AFP

Published: 2:03am, 6 Oct 2024

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 (WHO).

The 265,000 doses donated to Congo by the European Union and the United States were rolled out in the eastern city of Goma in North Kivu province, where hospitals and health workers have been overstretched, struggling 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 per cent of all the cases and 99 per cent of all the deaths reported in Africa this year. All of the Central African nation’s 26 provinces have recorded mpox cases.

A doctor administers the mpox vaccine during the launch of the vaccine campaign at the General Hospital of Goma in Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday. Photo: AFP

Although most mpox infections and deaths recorded in Congo are in children under the age of 15, the doses being administered are only meant for adults and will be given to at-risk populations and frontline workers, Health Minister Roger Kamba said this week.

“Strategies have been put in place by the services in order to vaccinate all targeted personnel,” Muboyayi ChikayaI, the minister’s chief of staff, said as he kicked off the vaccination drive.

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

Mpox, also known as monkeypox, 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 only a few doses despite pleas from its governments.