The Health Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) said that the country will begin a new round of vaccination amid the mpox outbreak. DRC is also the epicentre of the ongoing mpox epidemic. According to Xinhua news agency, DRC has recorded more than 1,100 deaths from mpox since the beginning of 2024, has vaccinated about 51,000 people.
The minister at a press briefing in Kinshasa, without specifying the date for the next vaccination round said, “These people must now have the second dose.” Congo has some 200,000 doses of vaccine on hand and expects to receive an additional 100,000 doses this Thursday, said Kamba. The country aims to vaccinate a total of 2.
5 million people using 3.5 million doses. Since the beginning of this year, 42,912 suspected cases have been reported, including 9,456 confirmed cases and 1,132 deaths.
The Central African country is facing a higher mortality rate due to delayed diagnosis and limited access to treatment in several health zones, according to the WHO. Mpox is a disease caused by a virus and it leads to rashes and flu-like symptoms. There are two types of mpox, clade I and clade II.
Clade I usually causes a higher percentage of people with mpox to get severely sick or die compared to clade II. In the earlier outbreak of mpox, the clade II type spread which didn’t cause fatality. However, in the recent outbreak, the clade I type of the mpox is spreading and it can cause severe symptoms and also death.
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