The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the epicenter of a recent mpox outbreak, received its first batch of vaccines on Thursday, with nearly half of the 200,000 doses donated by the European Union set to arrive by the weekend. The vaccines are part of an international effort to curb the virus’s spread, which has resulted in over 19,000 cases and 650 deaths in the DRC.
“The vaccines have arrived in the DRC and are now en route to storage facilities. The vaccination campaign is expected to begin by the end of the month,” said Laurent Muschel, head of the EU’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), in a statement to AFP.
Congolese Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba and Muschel were present at Kinshasa airport as the plane carrying 99,100 vaccine doses landed. The shipment departed from Copenhagen on Wednesday evening, according to reports from AFP.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is caused by a virus transmitted through infected animals or close physical contact with an infected person. The virus, which can sometimes be fatal, leads to fever, muscle aches, and skin lesions.
Muschel highlighted the swift response, stating, “This demonstrates the solidarity between the European Union and Africa, as well as our capacity to react quickly.”
The remaining 100,900 vaccine doses from the EU donation are expected to arrive in Kinshasa on Saturday. In total, 560,000 doses will be provided by the EU and several of its member states to the DRC and other affected countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared an international emergency on August 14 due to the surge in cases of the Clade 1b strain, a new variant that has spread beyond the DRC to nearby countries. Mpox has now been reported in 13 African nations, including Burundi, Congo-Brazzaville, and the Central African Republic, according to the Africa CDC.
The vaccines, produced by Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic, are the only ones approved in Europe and the United States and are currently intended for adults. Trials are ongoing to determine their safety and efficacy for children over the age of 12.
Japan has also pledged to send a significant number of mpox vaccines to the DRC, which is the most affected country globally. Sixty-two percent of DRC’s mpox cases have been recorded in children, who account for 80% of the deaths, according to the Africa CDC.
The DRC plans to begin its vaccination campaign as early as October, but the country faces significant logistical challenges. With a vast territory four times the size of France and inadequate infrastructure, distributing the vaccines will be a complex task. The doses must be stored at minus 20°C, adding further complications to the process.
In central Africa, several mpox epidemics have been ongoing, including the Clade 2 strain that caused the 2022 outbreak. The current crisis in the DRC, however, is attributed to the Clade 1 strain, with a newly emerging variant, 1b, making the situation even more dire. Specialists are still assessing the transmissibility and severity of this new variant.
The virus, initially discovered in monkeys in Denmark in 1958, was first detected in humans in 1970 in Zaire, the former name of the DRC.
