Rwanda has become the first African country to administer vaccines against the Mpox virus.
On Thursday, September 19, the African Union’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) announced that several hundred high-risk individuals in Rwanda received the Mpox vaccine earlier this week.
The initial batch of 300 doses was administered on Tuesday, September 17, near Rwanda’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the hardest-hit country by the virus, with nearly 22,000 cases and over 700 deaths reported between January and August.
Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya confirmed that the DRC is set to begin its own vaccination campaign in the first week of October.
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral infection transmitted from animals to humans and can also spread through close physical contact.
In certain cases, the virus can be deadly, causing fever, muscle aches, and large skin lesions resembling boils.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently prequalified the MVA-BN Mpox vaccine, allowing international agencies to start procuring it.
The vaccine is currently recommended for adults in a two-dose regimen, with the injections given four weeks apart.
Africa CDC has reported a total of 29,152 Mpox cases and 738 deaths across 15 African nations.
Kaseya emphasized that the virus is not under control, citing testing as a significant issue, with only half of suspected cases being tested. The agency aims to increase testing coverage to over 80 percent.
In a separate briefing, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the Mpox virus is causing multiple outbreaks in different regions, with rising cases in Burundi and the DRC being particularly concerning.
