KIGALI, Sept. 20 (Xinhua) -- Rwanda has started a vaccination campaign against mpox as part of the country's disease preparedness and response, according to the country's Ministry of Health.
The vaccination campaign, which began Tuesday, targeted populations with a high risk of getting mpox including health workers, cross-border business operators, hospitality workers, and other high-risk groups, the ministry said in a statement issued Thursday.
Rwanda had four confirmed cases of mpox in July. Most of the patients were treated and discharged, and no deaths have been recorded, according to the ministry.
Speaking at a virtual weekly press briefing earlier Thursday, Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), described Rwanda's launch of the vaccination campaign as a success story amid delays in delivering vaccines to the continent. "Let us talk about vaccination. We have a success story, we started in Rwanda, with 500 people vaccinated," Kaseya said.
Africa has recorded more than 29,000 mpox cases and 738 deaths so far this year, according to Africa CDC data.
Rwanda launched the vaccination with 1,000 doses of the vaccine it obtained from Nigeria under a bilateral arrangement, according to the Africa CDC.
Nigeria donated the 1,000 doses from an allotment of 10,000 it had received from the United States. ■