The World Health Organization announced Friday that almost 1 million doses of mpox vaccines have been allocated to nine African countries.
This allocation follows the establishment of an Access and Allocation Mechanism (AAM) last month, aimed at ensuring equitable and timely access to mpox vaccines in the region.
“So far, more than 50,000 people have been vaccinated against mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, thanks to donations from the United States and the European Commission,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The announcement coincides with a report from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), which indicated that mpox cases have surged by 500 percent compared to last year, now affecting 19 countries.
The WHO declared mpox a global health emergency in mid-August, following the emergence of a new strain, clade 1b, that began spreading from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to neighboring nations.
Dr. Ghebreyesus noted that the distribution of approximately 900,000 doses was determined by public health needs, particularly in areas experiencing significant transmission of the new variant.
He emphasized that this is the first allocation of nearly 6 million doses expected to be available by the end of 2024.
“This is an important step toward controlling mpox outbreaks as part of WHO and Africa CDC’s shared strategic response plan,” he said.
However, he stressed that vaccination is only one element of the broader strategy, which also includes case finding, contact tracing, infection prevention and control, clinical care, risk communication, and testing.
