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The largest number of doses (85pc of the allocation) will go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicentre of the current outbreak.
An initial tranche of 899,000 vaccine doses have been allocated to nine African countries that have been hit the hardest by the latest mpox outbreak.
The allocation was made by the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners as part of the Access and Allocation Mechanism (AAM) for mpox, which was set up following the upsurge in mpox infections earlier this year.
This year, 19 countries across the African continent have reported the presence of the disease. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicentre of the disease, more than 38,000 suspected cases and more than 1,000 deaths have been reported this year.
The outbreak of mpox, particularly the surge of the viral strain clade Ib in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighbouring countries, was declared a public health emergency of international concern by WHO and a public health emergency of continental security by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) back in August.
As defined by the Health Service Executive, mpox is an infection that can result in a variety of symptoms, such as a rash, high temperatures, exhaustion and muscle pain.
As vaccines are recommended to reduce transmission and help contain outbreaks, a decision was made by the AAM to distribute the doses to the countries that are most afflicted by mpox at present.
The nine countries are the Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.
The vaccine doses will come from Canada, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the EU and the US.
In recent weeks, limited vaccination has begun in Congo and Rwanda, and it is hoped that the increased distribution of these doses will aid the vaccination effort.
Further allocations of vaccines are expected before the end of the year.
Last month, University College Dublin announced that it is leading an international consortium to examine immune responses to an mpox vaccine.
Prof Bruce Kirenga, the scientific coordinator of the new consortium, described the trial as “uniquely important” because it will study immune responses for a vaccine “already earmarked for epidemic control in affected countries”.
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