Mpox vaccines are expected to arrive in Africa in the coming days, after the region’s main health-advisory body last week declared an outbreak of the disease a continent-wide public-health emergency.
“The vaccine will be available very soon, maybe end of next week,” Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director General Jean Kaseya said Tuesday.
The spread of the new strain of mpox from the Democratic Republic of Congo has seen the number of cases on the continent increase to nearly 19,000 from around 17,500 last week, Kaseya said. He did not clarify how many cases were of the new clade 1b variety.
Africa has dealt with mpox since the 1970s with little international attention. But even though it is the only continent where the disease is endemic, it didn’t receive vaccines for the virus in 2022 as the infectious illness spread around the world.
It was a similar story during the Covid-19 pandemic: When those shots first became available, Africa found itself at the back of the queue.
World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus last week also called mpox a public-health emergency of international concern.
That move will grant the WHO an opportunity to fix mistakes that previously provided Africa with little help, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said in remarks on Saturday.
The continent imports most of its shots and a drive to set up a vaccine industry has stumbled. Africa CDC is trying to ensure that this time is different.
“We need people to accept the vaccine,” Kaseya said. “‘If today we stop this outbreak in Africa we are also saving lives,” elsewhere in the world.
The continent needs 10 million doses and the shots are very expensive, Kaseya has said. Bavarian Nordic A/S, one of the few companies with an approved mpox vaccine, has said it will be able to meet the immunization needs of African nations.