Rwanda rolls out Mpox vaccination, the first in Africa --[Reported by Umva mag]

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 22 — Rwanda has become the first African nation to administer vaccines against the Mpox virus, as the continent works to control an outbreak reported in at least fifteen countries.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the most affected, with nearly 22,000 cases and over 700 deaths linked to the virus between January and August.

Other countries that have reported cases include Kenya, Uganda, Burundi, and most recently, Morocco.

The African Union’s Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) announced that Rwanda had begun vaccinating high-risk groups, including truck drivers.

300 doses

Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya told a virtual session Rwanda had vaccinated about 500 people, with the initial batch of 300 doses administered on Tuesday near the Rwandan border with the DRC.

“They [Rwanda] got 1000 doses and they need more than what they requested—10,000,” he said Thursday.

Rwanda which is among the first countries to report circulation of the novel clade 1b virus is focusing on seven districts that border the DRC, the epicenter of the virus.

Kaseya said that the CDC is working with countries to update the vaccination plan.

“We are talking about 10 miliion doses and we are committed to making sure that Africa get at least this 10 miliion doses to protect our people,” he said.

On August 3, Africa CDC officially declared the ongoing Mpox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS), the first such declaration by the agency since its founding in 2017.

This declaration, under Article 3, Paragraph F of the Africa CDC Statutes, empowers the organization to lead and coordinate responses to significant health emergencies.

The statute mandates Africa CDC to “coordinate and support Member States in health emergency responses, particularly those declared PHECS or Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), as well as health promotion and disease prevention through health system strengthening, addressing communicable and non-communicable diseases, environmental health, and neglected tropical diseases.”

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