Vaccines against monkeypox (mpox), which is spreading massively in Congo and neighboring countries, are unlikely to reach patients for months. The World Health Organization (WHO) is considering declaring an emergency health emergency, following the example of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC on Tuesday approved the highest level of threat to public health across the continent, the agency reminds Reuters. Although experts hoped this would speed up the process of obtaining funds to fight the epidemic, many obstacles remain in the way. The problem is, for example, the limited supply of vaccines, the possibilities of their financing, as well as other diseases with which Africa is fighting.
“If the big statements remain just words, there will be no substantial changes,” commented Emmanuel Nakoune, an mpox expert at the Institut Pasteur de Bangui in the Central African Republic. “It is important to declare a state of emergency because the disease is spreading,” appealed the head of the National Bureau of Biomedical Research (INRB) in Congo, Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum.
According to sources planning vaccinations in the Congo, only 65,000 vaccine doses will be available in the short term. However, this small quantity will not reach the country until October at the earliest. Meanwhile, the African Union has released $10.4 million for vaccinations and says there is a clear plan to provide three million doses by the end of the year.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 15,000 cases of mpox were recorded in Africa this year, and a total of 461 people died from mpox. A new offshoot of the virus began to spread in refugee camps in the east of the Congo, then penetrated into Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya.
