DR Congo expects first delivery of mpox vaccine doses on Thursday

The World Health Organisation declared mpox as a global public health emergency last month, but efforts to curb the spread of the disease have been hampered by a lack of vaccines.

“We will receive the first batch on 5th September and a second one on 7th September,” response chief Cris Kacita told Reuters in a WhatsApp message, without giving further details on the number of doses or the provider.

The vaccine doses' arrival would help to address a huge inequity that left African countries with no access to the two shots used in a 2022 global mpox outbreak, while they were widely available in Europe and the United States. Washington and Brussels have pledged tens of thousands of doses of a vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic, and said they could be delivered soon.

Kacita said on Monday that Congo hoped to start the first wave of vaccination on 8th October, but that this would depend on it receiving vaccines this week.

Health authorities face a steep challenge launching the vital campaign across a tropical country the size of western Europe. The doses must be kept at -90 degrees Celsius (-130°F) and communities can be wary of participating.

Mpox typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions, and can kill. There were 19,710 suspected cases of mpox reported since the start of the year in Congo by 31st August, according to the health ministry. Of those, 5,041 were confirmed and 655 were fatal.