Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) said Saturday they had begun a vaccination campaign against mpox — a virus that causes painful rashes and flu-like symptoms and in some cases can be deadly.

The central African nation is the epicenter of a mpox outbreak that has spread to 16 neighboring countries.

Since the start of the year, Africa has recorded 988 deaths — 70% of which have been children under five — out of more than 34,000 cases, according to the World Health Organization.

What do we know about the vaccination drive?

Officials held a ceremony at a hospital in the eastern city of Goma to mark the start of vaccinations.

The drive was delayed by three days from Wednesday due to difficulties delivering the vaccines because of the country's poor infrastructure.

The first doses were given to medical staff, including doctor Jeannine Muhavi.

"As a doctor, I'm on the front line and in constant contact with those who are sick... I want to protect myself," Muhavi told journalists at the ceremony.

The general population in the east of the country, where the current outbreak started a year ago, will be encouraged to get vaccinated from Monday.

The Health Ministry previously warned that the campaign's scope would be small due to limited resources.

"It will not be a mass vaccination campaign... the strategy is to vaccinate people most at risk," Health Minister Roger Kamba told a news conference in the capital Kinshasa on Friday.

At the moment, just 265,000 vaccine doses are available, donated by the United States and the European Union, among others.

The country is waiting to receive millions more promised shots from France, Japan and the United States

Large tents have been set up to administer the vaccines, particularly to adults with pre-existing health conditions.

The doses that have so far arrived, manufactured by Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic, are not intended for children.

At least 3 million shots approved for use in children are expected from Japan in the coming days, Kamba said.

Congo has a population of 99 million and accounts for more than 80% of all mpox cases and 99% of all the mpox deaths reported in Africa this year.

What is mpox?

Mpox, formerly called monkeypox, was first discovered in 1958 in Denmark among monkeys kept for research.

It was first spotted in humans in 1970 in what is now Congo and was spreading mostly undetected for years in Africa.

Mpox typically causes fever, aches and lethargy, along with pus-filled lesions on the body. It can also be fatal.

The virus gained international prominence in May 2022, when a strain known as clade 2b spread around the world, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men.

While the vaccine was quickly made widely available in Europe and the United States, African countries struggled to gain access to the shots.

The continent of 1.4 billion people is set to receive just 5.9 million doses of mpox vaccines before December.

Mpox is now being spread via sexual transmission in Africa as well as through close contact among children, pregnant women and other vulnerable groups, the WHO said recently.

In August, the Geneva-based health agency declared the outbreak a public health emergency of international concern after a new variant was identified.

Meanwhile, the WHO said Friday it had approved the use of the first diagnostic test for mpox, from swabs taken from human lesions.  

mm/sms (AFP, AP, Reuters)