The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) received its first batch of mpox vaccines on Thursday, marking a critical step in efforts to control the outbreak that has positioned the country at the epicenter of the crisis. The mpox outbreak has spread to neighboring countries, prompting the U.N. to declare a global public health emergency. However, a shortage of vaccines across Africa has hindered containment efforts.
A shipment of 99,000 vaccine doses, manufactured by Bavarian Nordic and donated by the European Union, arrived in Kinshasa at 13:00 local time. Speaking to reporters at the airport, Congo’s Health Minister, Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba, emphasized that the vaccine, already proven effective in the United States, would be distributed to adults, with a focus on the hardest-hit provinces, Equateur and South Kivu.
Minister Mulamba stressed the urgency of containing the virus as swiftly as possible, with plans to roll out the vaccine campaign starting on October 8. The campaign will be preceded by an awareness drive aimed at overcoming vaccine hesitancy in certain communities.
The DRC’s first delivery is part of a larger European Union initiative, which aims to provide 566,000 doses across the region. A second shipment, expected on Saturday, will bring Congo’s total to 200,000 doses. According to Laurent Muschel, head of the EU’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), future deliveries are planned for Burundi, pending medical authorization.
This vaccine delivery is seen as a step toward addressing the stark disparity that left African nations without access to crucial vaccines during the 2022 global mpox outbreak, while countries in Europe and the United States were able to secure ample supplies.