Today, Saturday, the Democratic Republic of the Congo officially launched a vaccination campaign against monkeypox (EMBOX) to limit the spread of the disease in this central African country, which is the most affected by the virus in the world.
The campaign, which was supposed to start on Wednesday, was delayed due to difficulties in transporting the doses. The vaccination campaign began at noon in Goma (east).
About 10 doctors, nurses and health care workers at the largest hospital in Goma, the capital of North Kivu province, received the first doses, according to an Agence France-Presse correspondent.
Doctor Janine Mohave, who was the first to receive the vaccine, told reporters, “As a doctor, I am on the front lines and in constant contact with patients (…) I want to protect myself.”
The campaign is scheduled to continue on a larger scale starting Monday in the east of the country, especially in the neighboring South Kivu province, where the current epidemic appeared a year ago, according to health authorities.
Health Minister Samuel-Roger Campa confirmed in a press conference on Friday that “vaccination will not be mass” at this stage.
No date has been set for the start of vaccination in the overcrowded capital, Kinshasa, which is at risk of a widespread spread of the disease, due to the rapid infection and high number of infections reported by the African Union health agency.
Since the beginning of the year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has recorded more than 30,000 infections and about 990 deaths, with an increase in the number of deaths among children.
The Minister of Health indicated on Friday that “nearly 70% of deaths are among children under the age of five,” but vaccination concerns adults only at this stage.
The country, which is among the 5 poorest countries in the world, received 265,000 doses last month from the European Union and the United States.
Impox is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans, but it is also transmitted between humans through physical contact, and causes fever, muscle pain, and skin ulcers.