The Democratic Republic of Congo has received its first batch of Mpox vaccines which health authorities hope will help fight an outbreak that has compelled the U.N. to declare a global public health emergency.
Congo —the epicentre of the outbreak— has spread the mpox virus to neighboring countries and elsewhere, but the glaring lack of vaccines in Africa has hampered efforts to stop the spread of the occasional deadly disease.
A plane conveying doses produced by Bavarian Nordic and donated by the European Union had touched down in the capital city, Kinshasa at about 13:00 local time (12:00 GMT).
Meanwhile, Samuel Roger Kamba, Congo’s health minister had told reporters that the newly arrived vaccine had already proved its worth in the United States and would be rolled out to adults in Congo as soon as possible.
This first delivery equals about 99,000 doses and a further delivery on Saturday will take the total to 200,000 doses, according to Laurent Muschel, the head of the EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).
The arrival of the vaccine in Congo is hoped to address the big inequity which has left African countries with no access to the two shots used in a 2022 global mpox outbreak, even though they were widely available in Europe and the United States.
Following this development, Congo has said it will launch its vaccination campaign on Oct. 8 to give sufficient time for a thorough awareness-raising campaign.
