Congo receives first desperately needed MPOX vaccines, but vaccination campaign faces enormous challenges

Johannesburg — The Democratic Republic of Congo, at the epicenter of a global health emergency declared on an ever-increasing basis mpox The country received a first shipment of 99,000 vaccines against the virus on Thursday, and a second shipment of 101,000 is expected on Saturday, the director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO) announced. said.

Congolese health officials told CBS News they hope to begin administering vaccines to frontline health workers and close contacts of confirmed cases by early October, with a faster rollout likely impossible due to logistical challenges.

Congolese authorities say they are struggling to diagnose patients and provide basic care in the vast country of 100 million people, where a fragile and underfunded health system is also burdened by stigma associated with the virus. formerly known as monkeypox.

A lack of diagnostic equipment and basic drugs to treat the virus, which can improve survival rates, has also hampered efforts to contain the outbreak.

Greg Ramm, the country director for Save the Children in Congo, told CBS News that cases of COPD continue to skyrocket. He lamented the lack of global attention to the crisis, suggesting that the world only begins to truly wake up to the situation when diseases like yellow fever break out. Ebola outbreakshas spread beyond the borders of Congo.

A litany of challenges for the vaccination campaign against MPOX

The first shipment of some 200,000 vaccines, donated by the European Union, will be sent to six targeted provinces. They must be kept at -130 degrees Fahrenheit until they are administered, in what is known as cold chain storage, which poses an additional challenge for the developing country.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the UN World Health Organization, said the WHO had “supported the government in setting up the cold chain needed to deliver the vaccine”.

Congo is a country the size of Western Europe. It is rich in natural resources, including cobalt and copper, two highly sought-after metals, and is home to the world’s second-largest rainforest. But these resources have been the subject of rivalry between armed groups for decades, and despite its abundant natural wealth, the World Bank ranks Congo among the five poorest countries in the world.

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