Authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have begun vaccination against mpox, nearly two months after the disease outbreak that spread to several countries was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization.
Some of the 265,000 doses donated to the DRC by the EU and the US were administered 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.
The DRC, 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 country’s 26 provinces have recorded mpox cases.
Although most mpox infections and deaths recorded in the DRC are in children under 15, the doses being administered are only meant for adults and will be given to at-risk populations and frontline workers, the health minister, Roger Kamba, said this week.
“Strategies have been put in place by the services in order to vaccinate all targeted personnel,” said Muboyayi Chikayal, the minister’s chief of staff, as he launched the vaccination.
At least 3m doses of the vaccine approved for use in children are expected from Japan in the coming days, Kamba said.
