“These are doses donated by the European Commission, which will begin to be distributed over the weekend,” the UN said on its website.

Lack of immunization has been a reiterated complaint by the Congolese population and humanitarian workers, who describe the situation in health centers as overwhelming, due to the large influx of patients arriving at these facilities.

The DRC is the African country most affected by the epidemic so far, with 629 reported deaths and more than 18,000 suspected cases. Four out of every five deaths have been minors, according to the UN.

Last week, the director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tewdros Adhanom Gebreyesus, gave guarantees to the president of the DRC, Félix Tshisekedi, that the arrival of vaccines would be sped up, and reaffirmed the commitment of his agency and all those of the UN to support the efforts of the DRC and all affected countries.

Meanwhile, the director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the African Union, Jean Kanseya, said that Africa would soon receive around one million doses of vaccines against Mpox, 215,000 of which were secured with the help of the European Union from the Danish manufacturer Bavarian Nordic.

Ied/arc/kmg