Nearly One Million Mpox Vaccines Allocated to Curb Rising Cases in Africa
In a significant stride towards fighting the mpox outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced Friday that close to a million doses of mpox vaccines have been allocated to nine African nations. This action follows the recent establishment of an Access and Allocation Mechanism (AAM) designed to ensure timely and equitable distribution of mpox vaccines across the continent.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus highlighted progress in vaccination efforts, sharing that over 50,000 people have already been vaccinated in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. This was made possible through donations from the United States and the European Commission. However, the urgency of these efforts is underscored by new data from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), which reported a staggering 500% increase in mpox cases across 19 African countries compared to last year.
The WHO’s decision to declare mpox a global health emergency in mid-August was driven by the emergence of a new strain, clade 1b, which began spreading from the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighboring countries. In response, this week, WHO allocated approximately 900,000 vaccine doses, prioritizing areas facing intense transmission of the new variant.
“This is the first allocation of nearly six million vaccine doses that we anticipate will be available by the end of 2024,” Dr. Tedros stated. He emphasized that this milestone is part of a broader strategy crafted in collaboration with the Africa CDC to bring the mpox outbreak under control.
Dr. Tedros reminded the public that vaccination is just one facet of the strategy. Comprehensive measures such as case finding, contact tracing, infection prevention, clinical care, risk communication, and testing are essential in halting the virus’s spread and protecting communities across Africa.
As the first wave of vaccines rolls out, hope is growing that these coordinated efforts will help curb the mpox epidemic and save lives on a continent in urgent need.
