Photo used for illustration purposes only. | Photo Credit: Reuters
The head of World Health Organization (WHO) believes that Ongoing ampox outbreak Vaccine supplies to Africa could be rolled out over the next six months, and on Friday (August 30, 2024) said the agency’s first shipment of vaccines should reach Congo within days.
To date, Africa has received just one A small fraction of the vaccines needed to slow the spread of the virusParticularly in Congo, where there are the most cases – more than 18,000 suspected cases and 629 deaths.
“With leadership from governments and close collaboration between partners, we believe we can contain these outbreaks within the next six months,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing.
He said that while the number of mpox infections has been increasing rapidly in the past few weeks, there have been relatively few deaths. Tedros also said that 258 cases of the new variant of mpox have been reported, with patients identified in Burundi, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Sweden and Thailand.
Earlier this month, the WHO declared the ongoing ampox outbreak in Africa a global emergency, which is expected to spur a stronger global response to the disease on the continent, where cases had been spreading undetected for years in several countries, including Nigeria. In May, scientists detected a new variant of the disease in Congo, which they think may spread more easily.
Ampox, also known as monkeypox, is related to smallpox but usually causes milder symptoms such as fever, headache and body aches. In severe cases, people may develop painful sores and blisters on their face, chest, arms and genitals. Ampox is usually spread through skin-to-skin contact.
The WHO estimated that about 230,000 vaccines could be shipped to Congo and elsewhere “shortly.” The agency said it was also running education campaigns to raise awareness about how people can prevent the spread of ampox in countries with outbreaks.
Maria Van Kerkhove, director of the WHO’s Department of Epidemics and Pandemic Diseases, said the agency was working to accelerate access to the vaccine to affected countries – as available supplies are limited.
Scientists have previously pointed out that without a better understanding of how ampox is spreading in Africa, it can be difficult to know how to best use vaccines.
Earlier this week, the head of Africa’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said the continent expected to receive about 380,000 doses of the m-pox vaccines promised by donors including the US and the European Union. That’s less than 15% of the doses officials have said are needed to end Congo’s m-pox outbreak.