In order to combat a new strain of the virus, the head of the World Health Organization announced on Friday that mpox vaccines would be arriving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the coming days.
Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at a news briefing, “We hope to have the first delivery in the next few days, and then it will build up.”
Adds WHO official Tim Nguyen, “about 230,000 mpox doses are immediately available to be dispatched.” According to Nguyen, the European Commission and Danish vaccine producer Bavarian Nordic contributed these doses.
In an effort to gain access, the WHO has lifted its standard regulations and stated that its partners can begin purchasing mpox vaccinations before the UN health body approves them.
