DRC launches large-scale vaccination campaign against mpox
Health officials launched their first mpox vaccination campaign, a key step in efforts to contain an outbreak that has spread to numerous other African nations this year.
Mpox can spread through close contact. Usually mild, it is fatal in rare cases. / Photo: Reuters
The Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicentre of an mpox epidemic, has launched a large-scale vaccination campaign against the virus in the eastern city of Goma.
The first vaccines were administered to hospital staff on Saturday, with the program due to target the general population from Monday in the east of the country, where the current outbreak started a year ago.
Officials held a ceremony to mark the start of vaccinations at a hospital in the eastern city of Goma.
The Health Ministry warned on Friday that the campaign's scope would be small due to limited resources.
At the moment, 265,000 vaccine doses are available, though more are in the pipeline.
Public health emergency
The start of vaccinations begins to address a huge inequity that left African countries with no access to the two shots used to fight a 2022 global mpox outbreak, while they were widely available in Europe and the United States.
"The rollout of the vaccine marks an important step in limiting the spread of the virus and ensuring the safety of families and communities," the World Health Organization's Africa director Matshidiso Moeti said in a statement.
Mpox can spread through close contact. Usually mild, it is fatal in rare cases.
It typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body.
In August, the WHO declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern after a new variant was identified.
DRC has reported more than 30,000 suspected and confirmed cases, and 990 deaths since the start of 2024 — accounting for 90 percent of the cases reported from Africa so far this year, according to the WHO.
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