In an effort to combat the pox outbreak in Africa, an access and allocation mechanism made it possible to distribute 899,000 doses of vaccines to nine particularly affected countries: the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda. The DRC, epicenter of the epidemic with 80% of confirmed cases in Africa, will receive the majority of doses. Vaccines are provided by Canada, the European Union, the United States and Gavi, the Global Vaccine Alliance.
This vaccination campaign is an essential component of the overall response, which also includes screening, clinical care and prevention. The vaccination plan will be rolled out in several phases: first to stop epidemics by targeting high-risk populations, then to protect more people as additional doses become available, and finally, to build population immunity against future epidemics.
The first phase aims to vaccinate 1.4 million people by the end of 2024, primarily close contacts of confirmed cases and healthcare workers.
Strategic management of vaccines, optimization of their impact and support for distribution are crucial to stemming this health crisis.
Senegal
