The first vaccinations against Mpox on the African continent were administered in Rwanda on Tuesday. In the neighbouring country, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the situation is increasingly getting ‘out of hand’.
About 300 at-risk patients at the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo have been vaccinated, the African Union (AU) disease control centre said. Rwanda’s neighbour is the country hardest hit by the virus, with nearly 22,000 suspected cases and more than 700 deaths linked to Mpox between January and August.
First vaccination from October
In less than a week, the country recorded nearly 3,000 new suspected cases, 374 confirmed cases and 14 deaths. According to the Centers for Disease Control, vaccinations in the Democratic Republic of Congo will begin “in the first week of October.” Jean Kaseya, director of the CDC Africa, said in his weekly briefing on Thursday: “Mpox in Africa is not under control.”
The Democratic Republic of Congo has so far received around 200,000 vaccine doses from the EU and another 50,000 from the US. The country has a population of around 100 million. In Africa, 15 countries have been confirmed as affected by the virus so far, including Burundi, Kenya and Uganda. The WHO declared a public health emergency of international concern in mid-August.
Source: Krone
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