Democratic Republic of the Congo begins vaccinating against mpox: ‘It is a lifesaver’

“Getting vaccinated is protecting yourself. I am a health worker; I am on the front line and always in contact with patients,” Jeanine Muhavi told the media, smiling, expressing her relief after receiving the mpox vaccine. The doctor works in Goma, in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the African country most affected by the disease. The vaccination campaign, which began on Saturday in North Kivu province and Tuesday in South Kivu province in the east of the country, is aimed primarily at health workers, but also at other sectors considered at risk such as butchers, hunters, veterinarians, and sex workers, as they are potentially more exposed to the virus, formerly known as monkeypox.

The disease has been detected in at least 16 African countries and, according to Congolese authorities, the vaccination campaign is an urgent response to protect the most vulnerable, and an opportunity to stop the spread of the virus before it becomes uncontrollable. The DRC is the second African country to begin vaccination against the mpox, after Rwanda did so on September 17.

Paulin Tshimanga, a nurse at a clinic on the outskirts of Goma, has seen the effects of mpox with his own eyes, and cannot contain his excitement at receiving the vaccine. “I have seen many people suffer from this disease. It causes great pain and requires significant care. As a nurse, I want to protect my patients, but also my family. And this vaccine is a lifesaver,” he says.

According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 31,000 suspected cases of mpox have been reported in the DRC since the beginning of the year, of which more than 5,000 have been laboratory confirmed. In total, about 1,000 deaths have been recorded, most of them among children. The DRC faces several additional obstacles to curbing the disease: a lack of infrastructure, limited resources for diagnosis, and widespread poverty and insecurity following a long military conflict that has displaced over 1.5 million people.

The situation is particularly precarious in the camps for displaced people, where refugees live in overcrowded conditions and without regular access to doctors. Many infected people are already in poor physical condition. For example, there are many malnourished children, who are fertile ground for mpox because of their weakened state. The increase in acute malnutrition rates in the DRC has put 4.5 million children aged under five and more than 3.7 million pregnant and lactating women at greater risk of contracting and dying from the disease, according to the NGO Save the Children.

“Great opportunity to stop this epidemic”

Justine Masika, who works in a medical laboratory in Goma, also received her first dose of the vaccine on Saturday. In the hours that followed, she developed a fever and nausea, but she is happy. “It is nothing compared to the suffering caused by this disease. Getting vaccinated is our great opportunity to stop this epidemic,” she said.

According to Gaston Lubambo, head of the North Kivu Health Division, vaccination is aimed at reaching remote and hard-to-reach areas, and he recalled that prevention is essential to breaking the chain of transmission. He therefore urged the population to scrupulously follow all hygiene measures, such as frequent hand washing with soap, the use of hydroalcoholic gel, and protective equipment when approaching infected people. “The objective is to vaccinate 48,000 people in the province of North Kivu, where the risk is very high,” he explained.

The DRC government has received 265,000 doses of vaccines donated by the European Union, the United States, and Gavi, the international immunization consortium, but they are insufficient to reach the entire population at risk, officials said. Africa needs at least 10 million doses, according to the CDC, the continent’s top health authority. For now, the international community has pledged to send Africa 3.66 million doses of mpox vaccines, according to CDC sources, including three million immunizations announced by Japan, the largest donor so far.

In our neighbourhood there have been several people who have fallen ill and it is very scary. The only way to protect ourselves is with the vaccine”

Sandrine Mutombo, resident of North Kivu province

According to Romain Muboyayi, chief of staff at the Ministry of Health, the vaccination strategy involves administering two doses of the MVA-BN vaccine for adults and one dose of the LC-16 vaccine, which is produced in Japan, for those aged under 18.

Sandrine Mutombo has seen several members of her community fall ill and decided to vaccinate her 17-year-old son. “I didn’t want to take any risks with my son. Here in our neighbourhood there have been several people who have fallen ill and it is very scary. The only way to protect ourselves is with the vaccine,” she says.

One of the pillars of the campaign is awareness-raising. In addition to distributing drugs, the authorities are informing the population about the disease and ways to protect themselves. To do so, they distribute leaflets, put up posters on the streets, participate in radio programmes, and post messages on social networks.

The current outbreak of mpox spreading across Africa, with a new variant (clade 1b), differs from the one that occurred in Europe in 2022 in its mode of transmission. While in Europe most infections occurred through sexual relations between adults, now 70% of new cases are in children. Although initially there was talk of a more dangerous and transmissible variant, more and more experts are questioning some of these hypotheses. On August 13, the CDC in Africa declared mpox a “continental public health emergency” and, a day later, the World Health Organization announced a Public Health Emergency of International Concern over the spread of the virus.

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