Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) expects to receive Mpox vaccines in two weeks

The World Health Organization declared on August 14 that the new outbreak of Mpox is a public health emergency of international concern, because according to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director of the (WHO), the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been the country most affected by the disease and deserves increased attention; in view of this statement, Minister Samuel Roger Kambar Mulamba, in a press conference held on Monday (19), said that the United States and Japan have committed to offering vaccines to Congo; “-we have just concluded discussions with USAID and the US government, I hope that by next week we will see the vaccines arriving.”he told reporters.

Mpox Vaccines

Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare Masano Tsuzuki said in an email that it was preparing to help Congo with supplies of vaccines and needles against mpox in conjunction with the World Health Organization and other partners. Japan has a manufacturing facility in the country for one of the mpox vaccines, KM Biologics; Denmark, the European country, is responsible for producing another vaccine, Jynneos, for the disease; the Danish vaccine is made by Bavarian Nordic BAVA.CO. The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) said last week it had up to $500 million to spend to get vaccines to countries affected by the growing outbreak of mpox in Africa.

_{Renato Cassol Infectious Disease Specialist explains the new wave of Mpox (reproduction/youtube/@renatocassol)}

Race against inequality and Mpox

The African continent was left out of the race to combat Mpox in the other outbreak episode that occurred in 2022, as the available vaccines were largely in European and American countries; this factor of inequality always plagues the African continent and now with this new outbreak of a new variant, the African continent needs the help of the agencies responsible for combating and controlling it before it spreads on an overwhelming scale; as its transmission is done through physical and sexual contact, the Mpox infection generates lesions filled with pus.

Featured photo: Test vial of Mpox vaccine (Reproduction/Times Live/liudmilachernetska)