The World Health Organization announced that about one million doses of the Imbox (monkeypox) vaccine have been allocated to nine African countries.
This follows the establishment of an access and allocation mechanism last month to support equitable and timely access to Imbox vaccines in Africa, according to the Africa News website.
The organization’s Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: “So far, more than 50,000 people have been vaccinated against Embox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda thanks to donations from the United States and the European Commission.”
The announcement comes on Friday, as the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention said that Imbox cases show a 500% increase from last year, and is now affecting 19 countries.
The organization declared a global health emergency in mid-August after a new strain, Clad 1B, began spreading from the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighboring countries.
Ghebreyesus recently said that the allocation of about 900,000 doses of the vaccine was based on public health needs, especially among those facing the widespread spread of the new variant.