Mpox vaccines have been administered in Africa for the first time, with several hundred high-risk individuals vaccinated in Rwanda, the African Union's disease control center said Thursday. The first 300 doses were administered on Tuesday near the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, a spokesperson for the AU's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) told AFP. The DRC has been the worst-affected country, with nearly 22,000 cases and more than 700 deaths linked to the virus between January and August.
On a call with reporters, Africa CDC director general Jean Kaseya said vaccinations would start in the DRC in "the first week of October". Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals that can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact. Deadly in some cases, it causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like lesions on the skin.
The World Health Organization (WHO) last week prequalified an mpox vaccine, MVA-BN, for the first time, paving the way for the United Nations and other international agencies to procure them. The Africa CDC says there has been a total of 29,152 cases and 738 deaths across 15 countries on the continent. "Mpox is not under control," said Kaseya.
Cases increasing A CDC spokesperson added that testing remained an issue, with only half of suspected cases tested, and said the agency was aiming for more than 80 percent. WHO's chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus w.