WHO says more than 50,000 vaccinated against Mpox in DR Congo, Rwanda
Africa
By
AFP
| Nov 02, 2024
More than 50,000 people have so far been vaccinated against mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, the World Health Organization's chief said on Friday.
The outbreak is still not under control, the African Union's health watchdog warned a day earlier, appealing for resources to avoid a "more severe" pandemic than Covid-19.
More than 1,100 people have died of mpox in Africa, where some 48,000 cases have been recorded since January, according to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
The majority of deaths have been in the DRC, the epicentre of the outbreak, which launched a vaccination drive last month.
READ MORE
Irony of lowest inflation in 17 years but Kenyans barely making ends meet
How new KRA guidelines will impact income tax calculation
Job loss fears as Mbadi orders cost-cutting in State agencies
Diversifying Kenya's exports for economic prosperity
State defends livestock vaccination programme
Amazon says US strike caused 'no disruptions'
State warns millers against wheat imports
Tanzania firm now eyes other sectors after Bamburi acquisition
"So far, more than 50,000 people have been vaccinated against mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, thanks to donations from the United States and the European Commission," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.
He also said that nearly 900,000 vaccine doses had this week been allocated to nine countries under a mechanism set up by the WHO and its partners.
The countries in question were to be informed on Friday, he added.
"This is the first allocation of almost six million vaccine doses that we expect to be available by the end of 2024" through the Access and Allocation Mechanism (AAM), the WHO chief said.
Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals that can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.
Related to smallpox, the viral disease causes fever, body aches, swollen lymph nodes and a rash that forms into blisters.