First shipment of mpox vaccines arrives in Democratic Republic of Congo

A plane carrying 99,000 doses of the Bavarian Nordic jabs, donated by the European Union, lands in Kinshasa

The Democratic Republic of Congo received its first shipment of mpox vaccines today, three weeks after the UN declared a public health emergency over the spread of a new, dangerous strain of the virus formerly known as monkeypox.
A plane carrying 99,000 doses of the Bavarian Nordic jabs, donated by the European Union, landed in the Central African country’s capital, Kinshasa, at 1pm local time today, Reuters reported.
The EU aims to deliver 566,000 doses in total, and an extra 200,000 doses are due to arrive as soon as Saturday, according to European health authorities.
Congolese health authorities have said they will need around 3.5 million doses in total to protect its population.
More than 22,800 mpox cases and 650 deaths have been reported in Africa since the beginning of the year, the majority of which are in the DRC, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Multiple strains of mpox, including a newly detected variant known as clade 1b, are in circulation at once.
Clade 1b, first reported in South Kivu, DRC last September has rapidly spread to neighbouring countries, including Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi, and cases have also been detected in travellers from the DRC in Thailand and Sweden.
Congo has said it will launch its vaccination campaign in the second week of October, to allow time for a thorough education campaign to overcome vaccine mistrust in some communities.
The jab has not yet been licensed for use in children under the age of 12, who make up the vast majority of those infected in the DRC, and as such only adults will be eligble for the vaccine.
Mpox typically causes cold and flu-like symptoms accompanied by a rash of pus-filled lesions, and can be fatal in severe cases.
It is spread primarily through close contact, including sex, skin-skin contact or sharing towels, clothing, or bedding with someone who has the virus. Pregnant women can also spread mpox to the foetus, during or after birth during skin-skin contact.
The Bavarian Nordic vaccine, known as MVA-BN, is already in use in the UK, US, Canada, and the European Union, and is mainly offered to men who have sex with men, who are considered an at-risk group.
The jab was originally designed to protect against smallpox, which is closely linked to mpox. 
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