The first load with vaccines against her mpox arrives today at Democratic Republic of the Congowhile this country, the epicenter of the epidemic, is going to receive a total of 200,000 doses this week.

The first shipment of 99,100 doses is due to land today at noon local time at Kinshasa International Airport, according to the African Union Health Service (Africa CDC). A second flight with the remaining vaccines is expected to arrive in DR Congo by the end of the week.

“We are very happy about the arrival of this first shipment of vaccines in the DR Congo,” said Jean Caseilla, director general of the Africa CDC.

By far the country hardest hit by mpox, DR Congo has recorded more than 19,000 cases and more than 650 deaths since the start of the year, according to figures released by the country’s health ministry.

As announced by the World Health Organization, the country’s government intends to start vaccinations as early as the weekend.

In this huge central African country, 62% of confirmed cases are children, the Africa CDC said. Four out of five deaths also involve children.

The WHO had promised last week that a first shipment of vaccine would arrive in DR Congo “in the coming days”, clarifying that around 230,000 doses of Danish pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic’s MVA-BN vaccine are “immediately available to be sent to the areas where have been affected’ by mpox.

Aid to this country, which is among the five poorest in the world according to the World Bank, was released by the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (Hera), which was set up after the covid-19 pandemic.

The re-emergence of the disease in Africa and the identification of a new strain, clade 1b, prompted the WHO to declare a public health emergency last month. The dangerousness and transmissibility of clade 1b, however, is currently not easy to assess, according to many experts.

In Africa, the disease has appeared in 13 countries, including Burundi (796 cases), Congo-Brazzaville (162 cases) and the Central African Republic (45 cases), according to the Africa CDC.

Two strains of the disease circulate in DR Congo: clade 1a in the western part of the country and clade 1b in the east. As the WHO pointed out, cases of clade 1b have increased rapidly in recent weeks, “but relatively few deaths have been recorded.”

The country’s health ministry asked citizens this week to observe hygiene rules.

The US, Japan, but also Spain, France and Germany have pledged to send vaccines to African countries.

Nigeria announced that it had received 10,000 doses of vaccine from the US.