Africa, one million doses of Mpox vaccine expected on the continent – Agenzia Nova

August 29, 2024

Nearly one million doses of vaccine against Mpox, the infection previously known as monkeypox (monkeypox), are expected in Africa. This was announced today by the director of the Africa CDC, which brings together the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We are moving toward securing close to a million doses of smallpox vaccine, he said Jean Kaseya at a meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) regional committee for Africa, organized in Congo-Brazzaville. Kaseya, a doctor by profession, indicated that 215 thousand doses of vaccines - a quota recently promised by the European Commission - have already been "secured" by the Danish manufacturer Bavarian Nordic. It is estimated that the vials needed to contain the current emergency on the African continent are two million, equivalent to 10 million doses.

The African continent is now the epicenter of the infection. With over 15.600 reported cases and 537 deaths since the beginning of the year, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the country most affected by MPOX in Africa, where the majority of deaths are children under 15 years of age, but cases albeit to a lesser extent have also been recorded in 11 other African countries (South Africa, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Liberia). A case of the new Clade 1b variant has been reported in Sweden, the first outside the continent. A balance that last August 14th pushed the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare Mpox an "international public health emergency".

Faced with the rapid spread of the Mpox virus (formerly known as monkeypox) in East Africa, the Horn of Africa and Southern Africa, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has launched an appeal to collect 18,5 $.1 million to support infection prevention, control and response efforts, particularly for migrant and displaced populations. These, underlines in an IOM note, are more exposed to contagion due to precarious living conditions and the numerous obstacles to accessing treatment. The spread of the Mpox virus in East Africa, the Horn of Africa and Southern Africa is of serious concern, particularly for vulnerable migrants, highly mobile populations and displaced communities, who are often overlooked in such crises. We must act quickly to protect those most at risk and mitigate the impact of this epidemic on the region, said Amy Pope, Director General of the IOM. According to Unicef, cases among children and vulnerable people are increasing especially in five countries in eastern and southern Africa: Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and South Africa. The new Clade 20b variant has been identified in all affected countries except South Africa and is of concern about its potential for transmission to wider age groups, particularly young children. Burundi is recording the highest number of infections across the region: as of August 2024, 170, 26 confirmed cases of Mpox have been detected in 49 of the country's 45,3 districts, of which 20 percent are women. Children and adolescents under the age of 60 make up nearly 5 percent of detected cases, while children under 21 account for XNUMX percent of cases.

Among the European Union countries that have announced the shipment of vaccines are Germany and Spain. The promise of 100 thousand doses came from Berlin. For Steffen Hebestreit, spokesperson for the chancellor Olaf Scholz, the aim of the initiative is to support in solidarity the international efforts to contain MPOX on the African continent. The doses will be available "in the short term", Hebestreit said, also announcing the creation of a mobile laboratory in Congo. For his part, Spain will donate 500 thousand doses of vaccine against mpox, as announced by the Ministry of Health in Madrid. The Spanish government has informed the European Commission that it will donate 20 percent of its vaccine stock, i.e. 100 thousand vials equivalent to 500 thousand doses, and has asked the institution to extend the proposal to donate 20 percent to other member countries of their vaccine stock.

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