### Congo Initiates Mpox Vaccination Campaign Amid Limited Resources

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has embarked on its inaugural vaccination campaign against mpox in the eastern city of Goma, which has been severely impacted by a recent outbreak. The campaign started on Saturday with hospital staff receiving the first doses, and it will expand to the wider population in the eastern region beginning Monday. The current outbreak in this area started last year.

On Friday, the Ministry of Public Health cautioned that the vaccine campaign would be constrained due to limited resources. Presently, only 265,000 doses are available in the country. "As you can imagine, in a country of 100 million people, we're not going to solve the problem with 265,000 doses," stated Health Minister Samuel-Roger Kamba during a news conference. Kamba emphasized that the vaccination effort will focus on priority groups, including individuals with pre-existing health conditions and healthcare workers.

Additional vaccine doses are anticipated from France, Japan, and the United States. Notably, US President Joe Biden announced last month that Washington intends to donate one million doses of the mpox vaccine to African nations.

Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization's Africa Director, highlighted the importance of the vaccine rollout, describing it as "an important step in limiting the spread of the virus and ensuring the safety of families and communities."

Since the start of 2024, the DRC has documented over 30,000 suspected and confirmed cases of mpox, with 900 fatalities, according to the World Health Organization. In August, the WHO declared mpox a public health emergency due to the emergence of a more infectious variant known as clade Ib. Mpox has been identified in 16 African countries this year, reports the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Friday, the WHO further announced the approval of a PCR test designed to detect mpox through swabbing skin lesions. Although the WHO has committed around 4,500 tests for the DRC, an arrival date has not yet been specified by Kamba.