[Source: Reuters]

The democratic Republic of Congo, epicenter of a mpox outbreak that prompted a U.N. declaration of a global public health emergency, said it expects to receive its first delivery of vaccine doses on Thursday and a second delivery on Saturday.

The World Health Organization declared the health emergency last month but efforts to curb the spread of the disease have been hampered by a lack of vaccines.

At a press conference in Geneva later in the day, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed the doses were due to arrive in Congo. They are manufactured by Bavarian Nordic and donated by the European Union.

The vaccine doses’ arrival should help address a huge inequity that has left African countries with no access to the two shots used in a 2022 global mpox outbreak, while they were widely available in Europe and the United States.

Washington and Brussels have pledged tens of thousands of doses of a vaccine made by Bavarian Nordic.

The head of country delivery for the global vaccine alliance Gavi, Thabani Maphosa, told Reuters on Wednesday that around 200,000 doses would arrive in the first tranche.

Kacita had said on Monday that Congo hoped to start the first wave of vaccination on Oct. 8, but that this would depend on it receiving vaccines this week.

Health authorities face a steep challenge in launching the vital campaign across a vast equatorial country the size of Western Europe. The doses must be kept at -90 degrees Celsius (-130°F) and communities can be wary of participating.