The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has asked Japan to donate at least 2 million doses of smallpox vaccine. A senior official at Africa’s top health commission and a Congolese official made the announcement on Tuesday.
The Japanese government said last week that Congo had requested Mpox vaccines, but did not say how many.
At a briefing, Ngashi Ngongo of the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said the health agency believes discussions with Japan are “very advanced” and that Congo needs a vaccine to protect children.
Chris Kasita, head of Congo’s Mpox response team, confirmed to Reuters that the central African nation had asked Japan for more than 2 million doses of the vaccine.
Mpox is a fatal infection that causes fever-like symptoms and pus-filled sores and is spread through close physical contact.
The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency earlier this month after a new strain, known as clone IP, spread from Congo to neighboring African countries.
Japan has stock of the LC16 Mpox vaccine manufactured by the Japanese company KM Biologics. The Danish company Bavarian Nordic makes another vaccine called Zynniose. According to the Africa CDC, the first Mpox vaccines could arrive in Africa in the first week of September.
Several Mpox strains are circulating in Africa at the same time, but most of the cases reported on the continent this year are from the Congo.
In a presentation by the Africa CDC on Tuesday, as of August 26, more than 22,800 Mpox cases and 622 deaths were reported in 13 African countries in 2024, up from more than 18,900 cases and 541 deaths from 12 countries a week earlier.
The African continent is unprepared for another pandemic after being unfairly treated during the COVID-19 pandemic, CDC Africa Director General Jean Kaseya told reporters.
“When we faced Covid, we didn’t have any vaccines or medicines. We didn’t even have syringes and gloves, and we were nervous. Today we are in a situation where we have to look for vaccines. Let’s not make vaccines,” he said.
Kaseya said the preliminary report showed that only an unnamed African vaccine maker could produce Bavarian Nordic’s Mpox vaccine, assuming the technology transfer was perfect.
