Virus vaccinations to begin next month: authorities

A vaccination campaign against mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will begin on October 2, authorities announced on Saturday.

“Adults in the provinces of Equateur, South Kivu and Sankuru will be vaccinated first,” Cris Kacita Osako, coordinator of the Congolese Committee for the Response to the Mpox Epidemic, was quoted as saying by media reports.

Earlier this week, the first batch of MPOX vaccines arrived in the capital of the DRC, the center of the epidemic.

Since the beginning of 2024, 5,549 confirmed cases of MPOX have been reported on the continent, with 643 associated deaths, representing a sharp increase in infections and deaths compared to previous years. Cases in the DRC accounted for 91% of the total. Most MPOX infections in Congo and Burundi, the second most affected country, affect children under 15 years of age.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a continent-wide response plan to the MPOX outbreak on Friday, three weeks after the WHO declared outbreaks in 12 African countries a global emergency.

Central African Republic to receive Mpox vaccine in coming days

The Central African Republic (CAR) will be equipped in the coming days with the vaccine against Mpox (monkey pox), the Central African Ministry of Health announced on Sunday on a local radio station.

According to Pierre Somsé, Central African Minister of Health and Public Population, the CAR is one of the first countries on the African continent to soon receive this vaccine.

“In the coming days, we are expecting a high-level mission from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in Bangui, the Central African capital, which

(…) will help us monitor this disease in order to provide a response,” said Mr. Somsé.

He warned that the risk of this epidemic had not been completely eliminated, even if the transmission of the Mpox virus seems to have stopped in Bangui, with no new cases of contamination having been recorded in the Central African capital for more than a month.