Kenya told to prepare for entry of Mpox vaccines

Kenya has been asked to prepare for possible Mpox vaccination in the event of an upsurge.

The country has not approved any vaccine but the World Health Organisation said it will help countries speed up regulatory approvals.

The WHO said it expected countries that reported an outbreak to “initiate plans to advance Mpox vaccination activities in the context of outbreak response in areas with incident cases, targeting people at high risk of infection.”

It also asked the countries to convene national immunisation technical advisory groups and prepare national policy mechanisms to apply for vaccines from Gavi or other bodies.

“These temporary recommendations are issued to states parties experiencing the upsurge of mpox, including, but not limited to, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda,” said the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee on mpox 2024, appointed by the WHO.

DR Congo, which has recorded 16,700 confirmed or suspected cases of Mpox, including more than 570 deaths, will receive its vaccines next week.

Its Health minister Samuel Kamba said they would need 3.5 million doses and that Japan and the United States had pledged some.

Kenya’s Health CS Deborah Mlongo said the ministry is already implementing the recommendations of the WHO committee.

“We have strengthened communication through continuous engagement with stakeholders and the community, which has helped bridge the knowledge gap among the public,” she said on Monday.

She said they have increased surveillance at all points of entry.

“Over 300,000 travellers have been screened. The diligence of our surveillance teams ensured that the only confirmed case was detected early. The patient’s contacts were followed up and none developed the disease. Additionally, the ministry has followed and tested 29 suspected cases, of which all have tested negative,” she said.

Kenya reported its sole case on July 31. The patient was a 42-year-old long-distance truck driver, who lives in Kinoo estate, Kiambu County, the ministry said.

He had travelled from Kampala to Mombasa on July 12. He was travelling to Tanzania at the time of detection at the Taveta border crossing.

“The good news is that the patient has fully recovered,” Mlongo said.

“Testing of suspected cases is currently being conducted at the Ministry of Health National Public Health laboratories (NPHL) in collaboration with partner institutions such as KEMRI,” she added.

The disease primarily affects children, and data show an aggregated case fatality rate of 3.6 per cent.

The outbreak is sustained largely, but not exclusively, through transmission linked to sexual contact and amplified in networks associated with commercial sex and sex workers.