GENEVA (Reuters) - The World Health Organization chief said that mpox vaccines were set to arrive in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the next few days to fight a new strain of the virus.
"We hope to have the first delivery in the next few days, and then it will build up," Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a press conference.
Some 230,000 mpox doses are immediately available to be dispatched, added WHO official Tim Nguyen. These doses were donated by the European Commission and Danish mpox vaccine manufacturer Bavarian Nordic.
The WHO has said that its partners can start buying mpox vaccines before they are approved by the UN health agency, lifting its usual rules in a bid to get inoculations to Africa faster.
It is currently reviewing applications for emergency licences for two vaccines made by Bavarian Nordic and Japan's KM Biologics. Tedros said these were expected to be granted in the next two weeks.
Rosamund Lewis, the WHO technical lead for mpox, said she hoped the vaccines and other interventions by health partners would help cases come down again in the near future.
An mpox diagnostic manufacturer also expressed interest in securing WHO's emergency use listing for their kit a day after the agency opened the process, Tedros said without naming the company.
Earlier this month, the WHO declared mpox a global public health emergency following an outbreak of the viral infection in the Democratic Republic of Congo that spread to neighbouring countries.
More than 18,000 suspected cases of mpox have been reported in Congo so far this year with 629 deaths, while over 150 cases have also been confirmed in Burundi, Tedros said.