Mpox: the first vaccination campaign in Africa has started in Rwanda

“Vaccination began in Rwanda on September 17 and around 300 high-risk individuals have been vaccinated“, Addis Asheber, a spokesperson for the Africa CDC, told AFP on Thursday.

These first hundreds of vaccinations have “targeted seven districts (…) which share a border with the Democratic Republic of Congo“, detailed Ngashi Ngongo, chief of staff and head of the agency’s executive office, during a press conference.

In the DRC, the epicenter of the epidemic, vaccinations will begin “the first week of October“, also indicated Jean Kaseya, the director of the Africa CDC, during this press conference.Mpox is not under control” he warned.

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The agency reported 374 new confirmed cases and 14 deaths on the continent in a week, bringing the total to 6,105 confirmed cases and 738 deaths.

In Africa, the epidemic is now present in 15 countries. The resurgence of MPOX on the continent and the appearance of a new variant (clade 1b) prompted the WHO to trigger its highest level of global alert in mid-August.

MPOX, formerly called monkeypox, is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans but is also transmitted between humans, causing fever, muscle aches and skin lesions.