Congo Expects to Receive Monkeypox Vaccine from US, Japan Next Week

Vaccine illustration. (Unsplash/@isengrapher)

JAKARTA - The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) expects to receive its first doses of the monkeypox (mpox) vaccine next week, following pledges from the United States and Japan to help combat the outbreak, the country's health minister said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) last week declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, as a new variant known as clade Ib spreads rapidly in Africa.

Health Minister Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba told a news conference on Monday that Japan and the United States had pledged vaccines to Congo.

"We have just concluded discussions with USAID and the US government. I hope that next week we can see the vaccines arrive," he told reporters, as reported by Reuters on August 20.

The arrival of the vaccines will help address a major gap that has left African countries without access to the two shots used in the 2022 global mpox outbreak, while they are widely available in Europe and the United States.

Earlier, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare said in an emailed statement to Reuters that it was preparing to provide supplies of mpox vaccines and syringes to Congo in collaboration with the WHO and other partners. The ministry "intends to provide as much support as possible," said Masano Tsuzuki, head of the infectious disease prevention and control division.

Japan-based KM Biologics, along with Denmark's Bavarian Nordic, which makes Jynneos, are the producers of the mpox vaccine. Japan has a stockpile of KM Biologics' vaccine.

Outside of clinical trials, none of the vaccines are available in Congo or across Africa, where the disease has been rampant for decades.

Separately, global vaccine group Gavi said last week it had up to $500 million to spend to provide vaccines to countries affected by the growing mpox outbreak in Africa.

"Gavi has offered to provide vaccines and we have agreed," Congo's health minister said.

Mpox, a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms, is usually mild but can be fatal. Two types of the virus are circulating in Congo - an endemic form of the virus, clade I, and a newer clade Ib branch.

The virus is spread through close physical contact, including sexual contact, but unlike previous global pandemics such as COVID-19, there is no evidence it spreads easily through the air.