Vaccination in the heart of the MPOX epidemic in the DRC

Photo: Aubin Mukoni Agence France-Presse Clinicians prepare to administer mpox vaccines during the launch of the vaccination campaign at Goma General Hospital on October 5, 2024.

Agence France-Presse

Published at 1:35 p.m.

• Afrique

Vaccination against mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo's hardest-hit province, South Kivu, began on Sunday, the day after the official launch of the campaign in the country, AFP noted.

The highly anticipated start of vaccination operations in the central African country, which accounts for 90% of cases of the disease previously known as monkeypox, according to the WHO, was announced on Saturday with the injection of the first doses into health workers at the hospital in Goma, the capital of North Kivu.

According to the Ministry of Health, this is not a “mass vaccination” at this stage, but rather a targeting of at-risk groups in the most affected areas: health workers, sex workers, veterinarians, hunters, etc.

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The mpox is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans but is also transmitted between humans, causing fever, muscle pain and skin lesions.

“I agree to take this vaccine to protect myself and others,” Cirhahongerwa Noella, a nurse and the first to receive the vaccine at Lwiro Hospital, about 50 km from Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, told the press.

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The DRC has recorded more than 30,000 cases of mpox and nearly 990 deaths since the beginning of the year, according to official figures. South Kivu, where the current epidemic was detected a year ago, according to health authorities, has alone recorded more than 8,400 cases and 45 deaths.

The province is due to receive 200,000 of the 265,000 vaccines the country currently has but has only received just under 30,000 so far, according to provincial health officials.

Vaccination in the DRC, which was initially scheduled to begin on Wednesday, has started late, partly because of difficulties in transporting the precious vaccines to a country with little infrastructure and four times the size of France.

To reach Bukavu, the doses, which must be stored at a temperature of -20°C, were first transported by plane from the capital Kinshasa to the east, before being transported by boat and then by helicopter.

The DRC, one of the five poorest countries on the planet, received 265,000 vaccines last month donated by the European Union and the United States. These doses from the Danish laboratory Bavarian Nordic are currently only approved for use in adults.

The Congolese government is waiting for further donations and is in discussions with Japan for the delivery of vaccines that can be used in children.

Mpox is currently available in 16 countries in Africa, according to the African Union health agency (Africa CDC).