Several African countries, including the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda, are set to benefit from a new mpox vaccine allocation.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has reported 80% of Africa’s confirmed mpox cases this year, will receive 85% of nearly 900,000 doses allocated.
The vaccine distribution is part of the World Health Organization’s Access and Allocation Mechanism (AAM), aimed at expanding access to mpox vaccines, treatments, and diagnostic tools.
Limited vaccinations have already been carried out in DRC and Rwanda. The outbreak, which has spread across 19 African countries this year, was declared a public health emergency by the WHO and Africa CDC in mid-August.
With over 38,000 suspected cases and more than 1,000 deaths, DRC remains the epicenter of the outbreak. Wealthier countries have pledged over 3.6 million vaccine doses to aid the response.