The vaccine will be given first to health workers and people with existing health problems.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has launched its first vaccination campaign against Mpox in the eastern city of Goma, which was hardest hit by the outbreak.
Hospital staff were vaccinated for the first time on Saturday, with a mass vaccination campaign set to begin on Monday in the east of the country, where the current outbreak began last year.
On Friday, the DRC’s public health ministry warned that the vaccination campaign would be limited due to limited resources. Only 265,000 doses are available so far.
“As you can imagine, in a country of 100 million people, we are not going to solve the problem with 265,000 doses,” Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba said at a news conference on Friday.
He said the campaign was aimed at targeting priority groups, including people with existing health problems and health workers.
More vaccine doses are expected to arrive from France, Japan and the United States.
Last month, US President Joe Biden said Washington was planning to donate one million doses of the mPox vaccine to African countries.
Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s Africa director, said in a statement that the vaccine rollout is “an important step in limiting the spread of the virus and ensuring the safety of families and communities”.
The World Health Organization said that since the beginning of 2024, the DRC has reported more than 30,000 suspected and confirmed cases of mpox and 900 deaths.
This virus can spread through close contact with an infected person or animal. Once contracted, the virus usually causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled sores on the body.
In August, WHO declared mumps a public health emergency after the discovery of a new, more infectious variant called clade IB.
According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mpox has been detected in 16 African countries so far this year.
On Friday, WHO announced it had approved a PCR test to detect mpox by swabbing skin lesions.
Kamba said WHO has promised about 4,500 tests to the DRC, but has not given a date of arrival.
