DRC receives first shipment of 100,000 Mpox vaccine to battle nearly 18,000 cases

Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is set to receive its first shipment of nearly 100,000 doses of mpox vaccines.

The Central African nation, which had been heavily affected by an mpox outbreak, is at the center of a crisis that the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global public health emergency last month.

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed that the doses, produced by Bavarian Nordic and donated by the European Union, were scheduled to arrive on Thursday, reports the Aljezeera.

Since the beginning of the year, the DRC had reported over 17,500 mpox cases and 629 deaths.

Read More: DR Congo approves Mpox vaccines as 20,000 cases recorded, 1000 dead in one year

UNICEF highlighted that children in the DRC and neighboring countries were particularly vulnerable.

Congolese Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba called for collective action against the outbreak, stating on X, “We are in a health war against mpox. To face this disease, we need you.”

Mpox has now been reported in at least 13 African countries, according to an August 27 update from Africa CDC.

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