Democratic Republic of Congo Begins Mpox Vaccination Campaign

Congolese authorities have begun rolling out the 265,000 vaccinations for mpox (formerly monkeypox) to help contain the ongoing outbreak.

The vaccination was administered in Goma and North Kivu province, prioritising health workers and frontline responders, contacts of confirmed cases, contacts of those contacts, and other at-risk groups.

In August, the WHO declared that the surge in mpox cases in the DRC constituted a global health emergency. However, beyond the African continent, a handful of cases have also been recorded in countries including Sweden and Pakistan.

Mpox is an illness caused by the monkeypox virus. It is a viral infection that can spread between people and occasionally from the environment to people via things and surfaces touched by a person with the virus.

The current outbreak is driven by a new and more dangerous variant, clade 1b, which poses a greater risk than clade II.

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