KINSHASA – A vaccination campaign against monkeypox in Congo is set to kick off on October 2nd, with a focus on the three most affected provinces initially.

Adults in Equateur, South Kivu, and Sankuru provinces will be the first to receive the vaccine, according to Cris Kacita Osako, coordinator of Congo’s Monkeypox Response Committee.

The first batch of monkeypox vaccines arrived in the Congolese capital earlier this week. The JYNNEOS vaccine, produced by Danish company Bavarian Nordic, was donated by the European Union through HERA, the bloc’s agency for health emergencies. Another 100,000 doses were delivered on Saturday.

This initial supply of 200,000 doses is just a small fraction of the 3 million doses required to quell the monkeypox outbreaks in Congo, which has been identified as the epicenter of the global health emergency. European Union countries have pledged to donate over 500,000 more doses, but the timeline for their delivery remains uncertain.

Since the beginning of 2024, there have been 5,549 confirmed cases of monkeypox across the continent, with 643 associated deaths. The majority of cases in Congo and Burundi, the second most affected country, are in children under the age of 15.

A continent-wide response plan to the monkeypox outbreak was launched by the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization on Friday, following the declaration of a global emergency three weeks prior.

Congo has granted emergency approval for the vaccine, with initial focus on adults. Priority groups for vaccination include those who have had close contact with infected individuals and sex workers, as stated by Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director-General of the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Additional data is being reviewed by the European Medicines Agency to extend the vaccine’s usage to children aged 12 to 17, which could happen by the end of the month, according to HERA Director-General Laurent Muschel.