The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the epicenter of the smallpox epidemic in Africa, has received the first doses of the Japanese vaccine LC16m8 to inoculate children against the infectious disease, the Congolese National Institute of Public Health (INSP) announced today.
“The first vials of the LC16m8 vaccine against monkeypox for children aged one year and older are now in Kinshasa. This is the culmination of discussions on the handling and use of this vaccine from Japan,” the INSP said on its Facebook page.
“Action is needed to protect children against smallpox and the strategy will be clear,” the institute said, specifying that the country is still awaiting “the acquisition of a large batch of the vaccine” as part of the “response to this public health problem”.
LC16m8 is the second vaccine against the disease licensed by the Congolese government and is intended to prevent smallpox in children, but also in adults.
The World Health Organization (WHO) approved the emergency use of the Japanese vaccine on November 19, of which the Japanese government announced a donation of three million doses to the African Union (AU).
The director-general of the AU health agency, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Jean Kaseya, announced on Thursday that the DR Congo was expected to begin receiving three million doses of the Japanese vaccine this week.
Vaccination against the infection is already being carried out in the country, but there is no vaccine available for children, who are particularly vulnerable to smallpox.
Africa has recorded 65,711 cases (14,241 confirmed) and 1,237 deaths from smallpox since the beginning of 2024 in 20 countries on the continent, according to the AU agency.
The epicentre of the outbreaks continues to be the DR Congo, with 50,477 cases (10,533 confirmed) and 1,222 deaths to date.
The Africa CDC declared mpox a continental public health emergency on 13 August and, the following day, the WHO announced an international health alert for the disease.
The WHO’s alarm is due to the rapid spread and high mortality in Africa of clade Ib, of which several cases have been identified outside the continent in people who have travelled to areas of Africa where the virus circulates intensely.
This variant differs from clade II, which caused a violent outbreak in Africa in 2022, as well as hundreds of cases in Europe, North America and countries in other regions, and has already led to the declaration of an international health emergency between 2022 and 2023.
Smallpox is an infectious disease that can cause painful rashes, swollen lymph nodes, fever, headaches, muscle aches, back pain and lack of energy.
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