Congo receives its first mpox vaccine shipment to combat outbreak

The Democratic Republic of Congo has received its first shipment of mpox vaccines, a crucial step in combating an outbreak that has affected the country and prompted the World Health Organisation to declare a global health emergency last month, Al Jazeera reported.

With a population of around 100 million, the Congo is currently at the centre of the outbreak, and health officials are counting on the vaccines to help bring it under control.

Mpox has been reported in at least 13 African countries, according to an August 27 update from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), as per Al Jazeera.

While speaking to reporters, Congo's Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba said about the newly arrived vaccine had already proved its worth in the United States and would be rolled out to adults in DR Congo.

"We know which provinces are heavily affected, notably Equateur and South Kivu ... The idea is to contain the virus as quickly as possible," he added.

According to Al Jazeera , the mpox vaccines received by Congo come from Bavarian Nordic, a Danish pharmaceutical laboratory. This vaccine is currently the only one approved for use in Europe and the United States, and is only available for adults. However, the company is conducting trials to explore its potential use in children over the age of 12.

Laurent Muschel, the head of the EU Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) stated that the first delivery amounts to 99,000 doses and a further delivery on Saturday will take the total to 200,000 doses.

"It shows the solidarity between the European Union with Africa and also our capacity to react quickly," he added.

According to the WHO, more than 17,500 mpox cases and 629 deaths have been reported in the DRC since the start of the year. Both strains - clade 1b and clade 1a - are present in the country.

The WHO also declared an emergency on August 14 because of a surge in cases of the new clade 1b strain.

Lindis Hurum from Doctors without Borders in Goma, in eastern Congo, told Al Jazeera that the new variant seems to be spreading more easily between humans.

"Children under 15 are at risk if they contract the virus and could also die from the virus....As of now we don't really know much about the situation. Children, pregnant women and people living with HIV for instance, are people we are specifically worried about," Hurum said.

Cris Kacita, head of the DR Congo's mpox outbreak response, said the country hoped to start the first wave of vaccination on October 8 if the vaccines were delivered this week.

But the country will face a major logistical challenge in a territory four times the size of France with poor roads and infrastructure and erratic power supplies.

The Danish vaccine must also be stored in special conditions, "at minus 20°C [minus 4°F], the temperature of a freezer," Muschel said.

Mpox is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.

The disease causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions filled with pus.