Democratic Republic of Congo receives first batch of monkeypox vaccine

The Democratic Republic of Congo is expected to receive a total of 200,000 doses of the vaccine this week. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) confirmed that the doses were produced by the Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic. The first shipment of more than 99,000 doses was transported by plane, departing from the Danish capital Copenhagen on the evening of September 4 and is expected to arrive at Kinshasa airport on September 5. Another flight carrying the remaining 200,000 doses is expected to arrive in the Democratic Republic of Congo before the end of this week.

The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has planned to vaccinate its people this weekend.

According to the latest figures from the Ministry of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo, since the beginning of the year, this large country in Central Africa has recorded more than 19,000 cases, including more than 650 deaths.

A resurgence of monkeypox in Africa and the emergence of a new variant prompted the WHO to issue its highest level of global alert last month. But vaccine shortages have hampered efforts to contain the spread of the disease. The United States, Japan, Spain, France and Germany have pledged to provide vaccines to African countries.

In late August, the WHO Africa Office said 10,000 doses of the US-donated Bavarian Nordic vaccine had been shipped to Nigeria.

According to the latest figures from the Africa CDC as of August 27, the disease has appeared in 13 countries on the continent, of which Burundi recorded 796 cases and the Republic of Congo had 162 cases. On September 4, Guinea announced the discovery of the first case of the disease.