The Democratic Republic of Congo has received its first batch of 100,000 mpox vaccine doses, three weeks after the World Health Organization and Africa CDC declared a global emergency over the mpox outbreak affecting twelve African nations.
Western partners, including the European Union and the United States, have pledged around 380,000 doses of the vaccine, but Congo’s authorities estimate that 3 million doses are needed to control the outbreak.
The European Union donated 100,000 doses of the MVA-BN vaccine, produced by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic. The vaccine has already been administered in Europe and the United States and is approved for use in adults by the EU.
The European Medicines Agency is currently reviewing data to potentially approve the vaccine for children aged 12 to 17 by the end of the month.
The outbreak has seen a 200% increase in infections, with Congo reporting the majority of cases and fatalities, particularly among children under 15. The Africa CDC is developing a coordinated response plan for the outbreak, which will be presented to African leaders for consideration at a meeting in September.
Last week, Nigeria received 10,000 doses donated by the United States – the single largest donation received by any African nation. However, Nigeria currently has only 40 reported cases of mpox since this year.
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