Africa has almost 4,000 new mpox cases in a week, but the wait for vaccines continues

Associated Press

ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Africa’s public health body is seeing a rapid increase in mpox cases, with almost 4,000 reported on the continent in the last week. The Africa CDC is also repeating a plea for long-awaited vaccines whose arrival this week in the most affected country, Congo, has been delayed. The first batch of vaccine doses promised to Africa will arrive on Sept. 1 after delays caused by documentation and emergency authorization issues. It will include 50,000 doses promised by the U.S. government and 15,000 from vaccines alliance GAVI. Congo is the epicenter of the global health emergency, with a new variant detected there.