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Vol 65 No 19

Published 20th September 2024


Vaccine shortfall risks spread of deadly new mpox strain

Disputes over pricing between Big Pharma and African states delayed response as did poor testing and surveillance

It took less than a year for the virus to resurface in Congo-Kinshasa after the World Health Organization (WHO) had announced in May 2023 that the global mpox emergency was over. In mid-August, WHO and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) announced that a deadlier and more contagious strain of the virus was coursing through the refugee camps in eastern Congo-K. By then the new strain, called clade 1b, was reckoned to have killed around 600 people and infected over 18,000. Earlier identification of the new strain and speedier delivery of vaccines could have saved hundreds of lives.

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