Kenya is among nine countries in Africa that have been allocated MPOX vaccine doses, following an MPOX surge in the continent.
The Access and Allocation Mechanism (AAM) for MPOX has allocated an initial 899, 000 vaccine doses for the nine countries across the African region.
In a press statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO), the decision was reached in collaboration with the affected countries and donors and aims to ensure that the limited doses are used effectively and fairly, with the overall objective of controlling the outbreaks.
The AAM principals from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), UNICEF, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have approved the allocation, following the recommendations of an Independent Technical Review Committee of the Continental Incident Management Support Team for MPOX. The decision was informed by a country’s readiness and epidemiological data.
The other eight (8) countries are Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, and Uganda.
The largest number of doses, 85 per cent of the allocation, will go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, being the most affected country, reporting four out of every five laboratory-confirmed cases in Africa this year.
The outbreak of MPOX, particularly the surge of the viral strain clade Ib, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring countries was declared a public health emergency of international concern by WHO and a public health emergency of continental security by Africa CDC in mid-August.
This year, 19 countries in Africa have reported MPOX, many of them newly affected by the viral disease. The epicentre of the outbreak remains the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with over 38, 000 suspected cases and over 1000 deaths reported this year.
Last month Kenya had recorded 13 cases of MPOX, with one fatality among the 13 confirmed cases in 10 areas, including Nakuru, Kajiado, Bungoma, Taita Taveta, Busia, Nairobi, Mombasa, Makueni, Kericho, and Kilifi.
At the beginning of last month, WHO had also confirmed 7,535 confirmed cases, including 32 deaths, from 16 countries reported in Africa.
Vaccination is recommended as part of a comprehensive MPOX response strategy, focusing also on timely testing and diagnosis, effective clinical care, infection prevention, and the engagement of affected communities.
In recent weeks, limited vaccination has begun in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, and according to the WHO, the allocation to the nine (9) countries marks a significant step towards a coordinated and targeted deployment of vaccines to stop the MPOX outbreaks.
For most countries, the rollout of MPOX vaccines will be a new undertaking.
Implementing targeted vaccination requires additional resources, and Partners of the MPOX AAM, set up last month, are working to scale up the response, with further allocations of vaccines being expected before the end of the year.
The doses are coming from Canada, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Luxemburg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, and Spain, as well as the European Union Health Emergency Response Authority), and the United States of America.
Over 5.85 million vaccine doses are expected to be available to the MPOX Vaccines AAM by the end of 2024, including the nearly 900 000 allocated doses.
There will be a three-phased vaccination strategy, with the first one being to stop outbreaks, then phase two will be expanding protection, while the third phase will be protecting the future through building population immunity.
The first phase targets the vaccination of approximately 1.4 million people at risk of infection by the end of 2024, with an initial 2.8 million doses of the MVA-BN vaccine to be allocated for this effort.
MPOX (monkey pox) is an infectious disease caused by the monkey pox virus. It can cause a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes, and fever. Most people fully recover, but some get very sick.
Anyone can get MPOX, and it spreads from contact with infected persons, through touch, kissing, or sex animals, when hunting, skinning, or cooking them materials, such as contaminated sheets, clothes, or needles. Pregnant persons may pass the virus on to their unborn baby.
By Wangari Ndirangu
