The first vaccinations against mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), epicenter of the current epidemic, begin on Saturday in Goma (east), the Congolese Minister of Health announced on Friday.
“We are launching the vaccination campaign from tomorrow, October 5,” Samuel-Roger Kamba said at a press conference in the capital Kinshasa.
Vaccination against the virus, previously called monkeypox, was initially scheduled to begin on Wednesday. It was delayed in particular due to delays in the delivery of doses through this Central African country poor in infrastructure and four times the size of France.
According to Mr. Kamba, the first vaccines will be inoculated in Goma, capital of the North Kivu province, to categories of populations deemed most at risk such as health personnel, people in contact, and the sick.
Eastern DRC is the region most affected by the virus. In total, the country has recorded more than 30,000 cases and nearly 990 deaths since the start of the year with increased mortality among children.
“Almost 70% of deaths concern children under the age of five,” added the minister. However, vaccination only concerns adults at this stage.
The DRC received 265,000 doses last month donated by the European Union and the United States. This vaccine, manufactured by the Danish laboratory Bavarian Nordic, is only intended for adults.
Another vaccine against mpox, which can be administered to children, is authorized by Japan, with which the DRC is in discussions for a possible supply.
“The needs are much greater, you can imagine that in a country of 100 million inhabitants, it is not with 265,000 doses that we solve the problem”, underlined the Minister of Health, explaining that he This is not a “mass vaccination” at this stage.
“We are waiting for the second batch of Bavarian Nordic vaccines which was announced to us by France, of 100,000 doses, to arrive. But we are waiting even more for the three million doses that Japan has promised,” continued Mr. Kamba.
The country must also receive 4,500 early diagnostic tests to better fight the epidemic with rapid treatment and care.
The World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Friday that it had given the green light to a PCR test to detect the DNA of the virus with swabs from skin lesions.
Several outbreaks of mpox are currently underway in central Africa. The increase in cases and the appearance of a new variant had pushed the WHO to trigger its highest level of global alert in August.
The virus is present in sixteen African countries, according to the African Union health agency (Africa CDC).
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