The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has donated 10,000 Jynneous vaccines to Nigeria to help mitigate the spread of Mpox.
The Director General of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NHPCDA), Dr. Muyi Aina, received the vaccines and announced that distribution will commence immediately, prioritizing states with the highest cases and frontline workers.
Dr. Aina thanked the US government for their support and pledged to ensure the judicious use of the vaccines, which will help save lives and curb the spread of Mpox across Nigeria.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), 39 confirmed cases and zero deaths from Mpox have been recorded across 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
The NCDC is intensifying surveillance to swiftly detect and respond to new cases, with all port health services on high alert.
Some states have been put on high alert, including Lagos, Enugu, Kano, Rivers, Cross-River, Akwa-Ibom, Adamawa, Taraba, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declared the Mpox surge in Africa a global public health emergency, prompting a meeting of experts to study the outbreak and make recommendations.
“Today, the emergency committee met and advised me that in its view, the situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice,” Tedros told a press conference.
“This is something that should concern us all. WHO is committed in the days and weeks ahead to coordinate the global response, working closely with each of the affected countries, and leveraging our on-the-ground presence, to prevent transmission, treat those infected, and save lives.”
The decision comes after the African Union’s health watchdog declared its public health emergency over the growing outbreak.
Mpox has swept through the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the virus formerly called monkeypox was first discovered in humans in 1970, and spread to other countries.
Tedros said the more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths reported so far this year in DR Congo have already exceeded last year’s total.
