Kenya to start Mpox vaccination

Kenya is one of five African countries set to receive 50,000 doses of the Mpox vaccine as part of an international effort to prevent the transmission of the disease.

The donation is being made by Emergent BioSolutions through Direct Relief, a humanitarian organisation, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US government.

Other countries receiving doses are the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. The ACAM2000 vaccine is intended primarily for use in a bioterrorism emergency and is indicated for active immunisation against smallpox disease in persons at high risk of smallpox infection. In addition to ACAM200, the WHO recommends using MVA-BN or LC16 vaccines.

This aid follows a declaration by the WHO that Mpox is a public health emergency of international concern and a statement by the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) that Mpox is now a public health emergency of continental security.

“As the WHO has declared, the mpox outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern, and Emergent is ready to scale up response efforts and partner with U.S. and global public health leaders. In the meantime, 50,000 doses of ACAM2000 vaccine will be donated to help control the outbreak across the African continent," said Joe Papa, President and CEO of Emergent BioSolutions.

"African CDC estimated that they will need 10 million doses to control the epidemic on the continent. It is unlikely that there will be enough supply of third generation vaccines to control the epidemic in Africa given the demand in other countries," added Dr Raina McIntyre, Biosecurity programme manager. Mpox is a disease caused by infection with the mpox virus, which belongs to the same family of viruses as variola, the virus that causes smallpox.

Since July 2024, cases of pox have been detected in four countries neighbouring the DRC that had not previously reported cases of mpox, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda. According to the Ministry of Health, one case has been confirmed and more than 302,000 travellers have been screened.

As part of the response measures to control the outbreak and prevent new cases, Cabinet Secretary for Health Debora Barasa said the ministry had intensified surveillance activities across the country, activated the public health emergency operations centres and established incident management teams across the country.

Dr Barasa in her first press briefing at the helm of the ministry announced that the Mpox risk of infection in the country remains low. She revealed that the country’s surveillance has picked up about 31 suspected cases, 29 of which have tested negative with the remaining three still under investigation. The CS calls for heightened surveillance in the country to ensure that should people get infected, the government can contain the transmission rate in the country.

Last week, the ministry announced that a 42-year-old man who was Kenya’s first Mpox case has now recovered. The man who is a truck driver and lives in Kinoo, Kiambu County remains the only confirmed case in the country. Dr Barasa said that the Health Ministry will now work with the county governments to ensure that all interventions that will put the disease at bay have been put in place.

The ministry has since ensured that the Public Health Emergency Operation Centre and the Incident Management System for Mpox are running so that there is a form of synergy in reporting new cases that the country may record.

At the county level, about 25 Mpox facilities known as the County Emergency Operation Centres have been set up and public health professionals working under the Rapid Response Teams in the counties asked to do apt contact tracing after finding suspected Mpox cases. “Surveillance has been enhanced across the country and points of entry. Over 300,000 travelers have been screened,” said CS Barasa.

At the moment, all testing is done at a central place –the National Public Health Laboratories (NPHL), in collaboration with the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI). Globally, the current wave of the Mpox resurgence has caused countries to ramp up scrutiny of their public health systems.

The virus has two main variants, Clade I, which is currently spreading in Africa but in an altered version called Clade Ib, and Clade II, which spread in the previous outbreak that mostly affected countries such as the United Kingdom. The ongoing surge has mostly affected African countries, especially the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Outside Africa, Sweden and Pakistan have since reported their first cases of the Clade Ib type of the virus. So far, more than 14,000 cases in Africa alone have been reported, leading to about 456 deaths from the continent with infections drawn from 15 African countries. In a statement to newsrooms, Dr Githinji Gitahi, chief executive for Amref Health Africa, said that the outbreak is a reminder to the global community that there is an urgent need to finalise and sign an equity-based pandemic treaty.

“Any further delay is untenable. It serves as a crucial reminder that while health systems operate locally, health risks are global and health security is a shared responsibility,” he said. “Collaborative cross-border surveillance efforts remain a strategic imperative to mitigate the impact of Mpox,” he added.

Amref, in collaboration with the Africa CDC and the Gates Foundation, will buy and deliver diagnostics supplies to about 12 African countries that have been affected by the disease. They will also train healthcare workers on the prevention and control of the cases. In the country, they are developing a tool called the Mpox Preparedness and Response Plan that is awaiting approval from Kenya’s Health ministry.

With the disease already affecting many African countries, Africa CDC reports that there is an acute shortage of vaccines. Only about 200,000 doses have been procured, yet, there is a need for more than 10 million doses.

The World Health Organisation has since issued an Emergency Use Listing that will see manufacturers share their vaccines that have not yet been prequalified but are allowed in the market just because there is an existing public health emergency.

Mpox is a zoonotic disease, meaning that it can jump from an animal that is infected with the mpox virus to a human being. People with the virus can spread it to fellow human beings when they use their items like clothes, and utensils and through sexual contact. The symptoms of the disease last for about two weeks and some can extend to a month.