United States: The Democratic Republic for Congo is expected to receive the first consignment of the mpox vaccine doses on Thursday while the second consignment is expected tomorrow, Saturday.
Congo is experiencing a very much serious mpox outbreak at the moment and the World Health Organization has already stated that this is a global health emergency. Due to a scarcity of vaccines the disease has been very hard to contain in the country.
Issues Related to Vaccine Delivery and Hurdles Facing in Vaccine Distribution
As reported by Reuters, ”The first batch will arrive on September 5 while the second consignment is expected on September 7,” response chief Cris Kacita said in a WhatsApp reply to Reuters without elaborating on the quantity or supplier.
The arrival of the vaccine doses would help close a massive gap that saw African countries having no access to the two shots used in a 2022 global mpox outbreak, but which was available in Europe and the United States.
Planned Vaccination Campaign Faces Obstacles
Washington and Brussels provide tens of thousands of doses of a vaccine that was produced by Bavarian Nordic and both claimed that the doses can be shipped very shortly. Kacita said on Monday that Congo expected the first phase of the inoculations to begin on Oct. 8, but would only be possible if it receives vaccines this week.
health authorities are with a big hurdle in launching the important campaign across a tropical country as big as western Europe. The doses must be maintained at -90 degree Celsius (-130 degree Fahrenheit) and such community may avoid participation.
WHO’s Role and Communication Efforts
According to Kacita, the vaccine will not be administered immediately it is purchased and stocked but it will take about a month from the time it is purchased before an immunization campaign is carried out. But to achieve this he said what is required is communication that the population embraces the vaccination, the six targeted provinces are good at storing the doses at the required temperatures.
Maria Van Kerkhove, the acting director of epidemic and pandemic prevention in the WHO said that this was the focus of the organization while assisting Congo.
“The question of who is going to get it we have to look at the communication around it,” she said citing that there was “quite a lot of misinformation around vaccines”. Dose numbers are still limited, she said, so initially the vaccinations will target the links of known positives.