The Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicenter of an mpox outbreak, received its first vaccines on Thursday — about half of the 200,000 doses supplied by the European Union and expected to arrive by the end of the week to combat the spread.
“The vaccines have arrived in DRC. They are currently on their way to storage facilities, and the vaccination campaign is scheduled to begin at the end of the month, according to Laurent Muschel, head of the EU’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA).
Congolese Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba and Muschel were at Kinshasa Airport as the plane carrying 99,100 vaccination shots landed, according to an AFP journalist.
The doses left Copenhagen, Denmark’s capital, on Wednesday evening.
According to the health minister’s most recent numbers, the DRC has documented over 19,000 cases and more than 650 deaths.
Mpox is caused by a virus that is transferred to people by infected animals, but it can also spread from person to person through intimate personal contact.
It can sometimes be fatal, causing fever, muscle pains, and big boil-like skin sores.
“It shows the solidarity between the European Union with Africa and also our capacity to react quickly,” Muschel said.
The rest of the 200,000 dosages given by the EU are scheduled to arrive in Kinshasa on Saturday.
On August 14, the World Health Organization declared an international emergency, citing an increase in cases of the novel Clade 1b strain in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has spread to neighboring nations.
Muschel stated that the EU and some of its member states will provide 560,000 doses to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other impacted countries.
According to the Africa CDC, mpox has spread to 13 African countries, including Burundi, Congo-Brazzaville, and the Central African Republic.
The vaccines arriving in the DRC this week are from the Danish pharmaceutical laboratory Bavarian Nordic.
It is the only vaccine approved in Europe and the United States, and it is solely for adults.
Logistical challenge
Trials are presently underway for prospective usage on youngsters over the age of twelve.
Another mpox vaccine has been approved in Japan, and a considerable quantity of doses have been promised to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
According to the Africa CDC, around 3.6 million mpox vaccine doses have been obtained for African countries, with the DRC, by far the most impacted country in the world, receiving priority from international health authorities.
According to the Africa CDC, children account for 62% of all mpox cases in the DRC, as well as four out of every five deaths.
According to international health officials, Kinshasa intends to launch its vaccine campaign as early as October.
However, DRC will face a significant logistical task in a territory four times the size of France, with terrible roads, shambolic infrastructure, and intermittent power supplies.
The Danish vaccination must also be stored under particular circumstances, “at minus 20°C, the temperature of a freezer,” Muschel explained.
There are several mpox epidemics in Central Africa.
Clade 2 triggered the 2022 epidemic and continues to circulate in numerous nations, including the West.
However, the Clade 1 strain is responsible for the pandemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the situation is becoming more difficult with the introduction of a new variety of this subgroup, 1b.
According to various experts, determining the risk and amount of infection associated with the variation is difficult.
According to the WHO, instances of Clade 1b have surged quickly in recent weeks, but “relatively few deaths have been reported”.
Previously known as monkeypox, the virus was discovered in 1958 in Denmark in monkeys housed for research.
It was originally detected in humans in 1970 in Zaire, which was then known as the Democratic Republic of Congo.