DR Congo hopes to receive first mpox vaccines by next week

Health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) hope to receive first doses of mpox vaccine by next week, following promises from the United States and Japan to help the country fight the outbreak, local media reported.

The World Health Organization last week declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years as a new variant of the disease, known as clade Ib, spread rapidly in Africa.

In a news conference on Monday, Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba said that Japan and the United States had pledged vaccines to Congo.

“We’ve just finished discussions with USAID and the U.S. government… I hope that by next week we’ll be able to see the vaccines arrive,” he told reporters.