Africa CDC warns on vaccine hoarding amid Monkeypox outbreak

On Thursday, the acting director of Africa’s leading public health agency expressed hope that vaccine hoarding, which occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, would not occur with the current Monkeypox outbreak.

Monkeypox is endemic in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria, and is a typically mild viral infection.

However, it has sparked global concern after more than 200 suspected and confirmed cases of the virus were discovered in at least 19 countries, predominantly in Europe, since early May. So yet, no deaths have been reported.

“Vaccines should go to where it is needed the most and equitably, so based on risk, and not on who can be able to buy it,” Ahmed Ogwell Ouma of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention told a news conference.

The World Health Organisation has in the past warned against hoarding COVID-19 vaccines and threatening supplies to poorer countries where inoculation rates are low.

Ogwell Ouma’s comments came a day after South African disease experts said they did not think there was a need for mass vaccination campaigns globally against Monkeypox and that vaccines should be prioritised for other deadly infections.

Africa has used smallpox vaccines to manage outbreaks of Monkeypox in the past, he said, urging the general public to avoid looking for those vaccines and squeezing supplies for those most at risk.

“The prioritisation is first health workers who are in the frontline, and then the affected communities where the outbreaks are first characterised, before contemplating the general public,” Ogwell Ouma said.

“We know how to deal with it… and we are happy to share that knowledge, the experience and the skills we have built overtime with countries that are seeing Monkeypox now.”