Vaccines Delayed: Congo's Mpox Outbreak Crisis

Vaccines to address the mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo may not arrive for months. Despite Africa Centres for Disease Control declaring a public health emergency and WHO considering a global threat declaration, obstacles like limited vaccine supply and competing disease outbreaks persist.

Vaccines to help curb an escalating mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring countries may still not reach the central African country for months, even as the World Health Organization considers following Africa's top public health agency in declaring the outbreak an emergency.

On Tuesday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared a public health emergency of continental concern for the first time ever. The following day, a WHO-led panel convened to determine if the outbreak represents a global threat. Although experts hoped the meetings would spur worldwide action, significant barriers remain, including limited vaccine supply, funding, and other competing disease outbreaks.

"It is important to declare an emergency because the disease is spreading," said Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, head of Congo's Institut National pour la Recherche Biomedicale (INRB). He expressed hope that a declaration would facilitate greater funding for surveillance and access to vaccines in Congo. However, he acknowledged that significant challenges lie ahead in a vast country where health facilities and humanitarian resources are already stretched thin by conflict and outbreaks of diseases such as measles and cholera.

(With inputs from agencies.)