Rwanda unveil Africa’s first Mpox vaccination campaign amid rising cases

Rwanda has taken a groundbreaking step in Africa’s fight against mpox by launching the continent’s first vaccination campaign.

As of Tuesday, 300 doses of the vaccine were administered to high-risk individuals in a border region near the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which remains the epicenter of the outbreak.

Jean Kaseya, Director-General of the Africa Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC), emphasized the urgency of controlling the outbreak and highlighted the need for local vaccine production.

“This outbreak must be stopped very quickly,” Kaseya stressed, adding that efforts are underway to collaborate with manufacturers to produce vaccines within Africa.

The initial vaccination rollout in Rwanda targets health workers, cross-border traders, hospitality staff, and other high-risk groups.

Meanwhile, the DRC, with 2,912 new cases and 14 deaths in the past week alone, will begin its vaccination campaign in early October, with 165,000 doses already delivered.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, has called for global cooperation to halt the spread of mpox.

Other African nations, like Nigeria, have also received vaccine donations, with the United States recently supplying 10,000 doses through USAID in a bid to contain the outbreak.