The DR Congo government no longer anticipates receiving mpox vaccines this week

The head of Congo’s response team announced on Monday that the country is no longer anticipating its first shipment of mpox vaccines this week. This is because the country is fighting a new strain of the virus that has infected people outside of its borders.

For the second time in two years, the World Health Organization designated mpox a global public health emergency on August 14.

The United States and Japan had promised to assist Congo in fighting its outbreak, and the Central African nation expects to get its first doses of the vaccine by this week, according to the country’s health minister on August 19.

The leader of Congo’s reaction team, Cris Kacita, told Reuters that the country will not be receiving the doses this week. There are still a few procedures to go through.”

Before the vaccines arrive in the nation, he said, the Congolese pharmaceutical regulatory body must first establish communication with Danish company Bavaria Nordic (BAVA.CO) and create a new tab for advice.

“So, we’re waiting,” Kacita remarked.

One of the few pharmaceutical companies with an mpox vaccine now on the market, Bavarian Nordic, announced in mid-August that it had notified the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that it will be able to produce 10 million doses of the vaccine by the end of 2025.

It claimed that it could provide up to two million doses this year already.

The introduction of the vaccine doses would aid in redressing a significant disparity that prevented African nations from obtaining the two vaccinations utilized in a global mpox outbreak in 2022, despite the immunizations being freely accessible in Europe and the US.

According to government statistics, since January 2023, there have been over 27,000 suspected cases and 1,100 deaths in the Congo, the most of which have been minors.

Vaccinations against mpox have already been made available outside of Africa in over 70 countries.