Kenya’s Ministry of Health in collaboration with partners, is finalising plans to roll out vaccination against mpox as the country records 36 cases, including one fatality.

Officials made the announcement on Thursday.

Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Mary Muriuki, said that the vaccination campaign would prioritise high-risk groups such as long-distance truck drivers, frontline healthcare workers, and immunosuppressed individuals.

Ms Muriuki, who spoke at a media briefing in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, noted that the vaccines would complement other preventive measures, including enhanced surveillance, timely diagnosis, and quality treatment.

Ms Muriuki added that Kenya reported its first mpox case in July 2024 at the border with Tanzania, highlighting the disease’s ongoing public health threat in the East African region due to high levels of human mobility.

She said that vaccine procurement would be carried out in partnership with multilateral organisations, while trained community health promoters would lead public awareness campaigns to encourage vaccine uptake among vulnerable groups.

She also disclosed that the Kenyan government had invested in supportive infrastructure, such as cold chains and reliable power supplies at health facilities to ensure the smooth rollout of vaccinations.

Also, senior Deputy Director at the Ministry of Health, Sultani Matendechero, noted that Kenya developed a comprehensive mpox vaccination strategy based on international best practices.

He warned that cases might rise in the near future and stressed that the government would use third-generation mpox vaccines, which had proven safety and efficacy.

He added that priority would be given to contacts of infected individuals and frontline health workers in hotspots such as ports of entry.

Kenya is among the African countries set to benefit from centralised mpox vaccine procurement through multilateral agencies and donors, according to Hentsa Haddush Desta, national coordinator for the Eastern Africa Regional Coordinating Centre of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Desta explained that vaccines would be allocated based on national caseloads, adding that Africa required 10 million doses, with some countries already beginning inoculations.

(Xinhua/NAN)