The first vaccination campaign against MPOX in Africa began on Tuesday in Rwanda, where around 300 people have been immunized, a spokesperson for Africa CDC, the health agency of the African Union, told AFP.
“Vaccination started in Rwanda on September 17 and about 300 high-risk people have been vaccinated,” Addis Asheber, a spokesperson for Africa CDC, told AFP on Thursday.
These vaccinations were carried out in “seven districts […] which share a border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo [RDC]”, Ngashi Ngongo, chief of staff and head of the agency’s executive office, explained at a press conference.
In the DRC, the epicentre of the MPOX epidemic in Africa, the vaccination campaign will begin “the first week of October,” said Jean Kaseya, director of Africa CDC, during the same press conference.
“MPox is not under control,” he warned.
The agency recorded 374 new confirmed cases and 14 deaths on the continent in one week, bringing the total to 6,105 confirmed cases and 738 deaths.
The epidemic has already spread to 15 countries in Africa.
The resurgence of cases on the continent and the emergence of a new variant (clade 1b) led the World Health Organization to declare an international public health emergency, the highest level of alert, in mid-August.
MPox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans, but is also transmitted between people, causing fever, muscle aches and skin lesions.
Related
2024-09-23 15:57:12