The first 100,000 doses of the MVA-BN vaccine, produced by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, were donated through Hera, the EU agency for health emergencies. In the country, most cases are among children
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The first batch of vaccines against the monkeypox arrived in Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of the Congo, three weeks after the World Health Organization declared the smallpox outbreak in 12 African countries a global emergency.
The one hundred thousand doses of the MVA-BN vaccine, produced by the Danish company Bavarian Nordic, have been donated by the European Union through Hera, the bloc’s agency for health emergencies.
“This will be the first delivery of the vaccine to the country. The second delivery of around one hundred thousand doses should arrive in the following days“, said European Commission spokesperson Stefan de Keersmaecker.
“These deliveries are part of the 215,000 doses of vaccine that the European Commission through Hera has procured and committed to share with affected African countries“. Congolese authorities have confirmed that another 100,000 doses are expected to be delivered on Saturday.
Over 300,000 vaccines from the EU and the US
UNICEF will lead the vaccination campaign in the most affected provinces, Congolese Health Minister Roger Kamba told reporters after the vaccine was delivered. But it is not clear when the vaccination campaign will begin.
Some 380,000 doses of smallpox vaccine have been pledged by Western partners such as the European Union and the United States, Dr. Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told reporters last week.
This is less than 15 percent of the three million doses that the authorities have declared necessary to end smallpox outbreaks in Congo, the epicenter of the global health emergency.
Last week, the organization said there had been more than 22,800 monkeypox cases and 622 deaths on the continent, and that infections had increased by 200 percent in the past week.
Children are among those most affected by the disease
Most cases and deaths are in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the new mpox variant was first detected and where most infections are among children under 15.
Following the global mpox epidemic in 2022, Rich countries responded quickly with vaccines and treatments from their stockpiles. However, only a few doses have reached Africa, despite appeals from local governments. The MVA-BN vaccine has already been used in Europe and the United States, the EU said, and is authorized for use in adults.
Vaccine not yet authorized for children
The European Medicines Agency is examining further data for can be administered to children between the ages of 12 and 17which could happen by the end of the month. 215,000 have been pledged and purchased for an undisclosed amount specifically to be donated to the Democratic Republic of Congo, said Laurent Muschel, director general of HERA.
The United States said last week that it had donated 10,000 doses of smallpox vaccine to Nigeria, where the disease is widespread.This is the first known donation to Africa after the current epidemics. Nigeria has recorded 40 cases of the virus this year, according to the Nigeria CDC.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, has been spreading across Africa for years without being detected before the disease caused the 2022 epidemic in more than 70 countriesDr. Dimie Ogoina, chair of the WHO emergency committee for MPOX, told reporters last month.
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