Friday, September 20, 2024 -Rwanda has become the first country in Africa to administer vaccines against the Mpox virus.
The African Union’s Centres for
Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) announced on Thursday, September
19, that several hundred high-risk individuals in Rwanda received the mpox
vaccine earlier this week.
The initial batch of 300 doses was
administered on Tuesday, September 17, near Rwanda’s border with the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC), which has been the hardest-hit by the virus, reporting
nearly 22,000 cases and over 700 deaths between January and August.
Africa CDC Director General Jean
Kaseya confirmed that the DRC is set to begin its own vaccination campaign in
the first week of October.
Mpox, previously known as monkeypox,
is a viral infection transmitted from animals to humans, and can also spread
through close physical contact.
The virus can be deadly in certain
cases, causing fever, muscle aches, and large skin lesions resembling
boils.
The World Health Organization (WHO)
recently prequalified the MVA-BN mpox vaccine for the first time, enabling
international agencies to begin procuring it.
The vaccine is currently recommended
for adults in a two-dose regimen, with the injections spaced four weeks
apart.
Africa CDC reports a total of 29,152
mpox cases and 738 deaths across 15 African nations.
Kaseya stressed that the virus is not
under control, and noted that testing remains a significant issue, with only
half of suspected cases being tested.
The agency aims to increase testing
coverage to over 80 percent.
In a separate briefing, WHO
Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the mpox virus is
causing multiple outbreaks in different regions, with the situation in Burundi
and the DRC particularly concerning as cases continue to rise.
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