Mpox: Nine most affected countries to receive vaccines

The countries to benefit from the vaccine allocation include Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.

The Democratic Republic of Congo - reporting four out of every five confirmed cases in Africa this year - will take 85% of the nearly 900,000 doses allocated.

The Access and Allocation Mechanism (AAM) is an initiative of the World Health Organization to increase access to mpox vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda have already carried out limited vaccinations.

The outbreak of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring countries was declared a public health emergency of international concern by WHO and a public health emergency of continental security by Africa CDC in mid-August.

19 countries in Africa have reported mpox cases this year alone, with the disease continuing to spread.

The epicentre of the outbreak remains the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with over 38,000 suspected cases and over 1000 deaths reported this year.

Rich countries have pledged over 3.6 million doses of vaccines for the mpox response.