Vaccine Doses Allocated to Nine African Countries Most Affected by MPOX (WHO)
The World Health Organization (WHO) and other health organizations have announced the allocation of a first batch of 899,000 vaccine doses to nine African countries severely affected by the ongoing outbreak of MPOX.
On Wednesday, the global health agency revealed that these newly allocated vaccines will be distributed to the Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda.
“The largest number of doses – 85% of the allocation – will go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as the most affected country,” noted the WHO.
The vaccines are sourced from European nations, the United States, Canada, and Gavi, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization.
According to the latest figures from the WHO, there have been over 46,000 confirmed and suspected cases of MPOX in Africa this year, with more than 1,000 deaths on the continent attributed to this viral disease.
In August, the WHO declared that the MPOX virus constituted a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following the emergence of a new variant known as clade Ib, which spread from the DRC to neighboring countries.
