Mozambique: Over 22,000 Vaccinated Against Mpox in Niassa

Maputo — The Mozambican health authorities have vaccinated a total of 22,022 people against Mpox in a five-day campaign in the northern province of Niassa, the epicentre of the Mozambican outbreak of the disease.

Mpox (formerly known as monkey pox) is an infectious viral disease that can occur in human and other animals. It was initially called monkey pox because it was first identified in laboratory monkeys.

According to Amândio Viola, chief medical officer for Niassa province, cited by the Portuguese News Agency, Lusa, this is a positive outcome "because we managed to vaccinate 22,022 patients, out of 22,796 from the group that we wanted to reach.'

The immunisation campaign began on 27 November and ended last Monday, covering seven of Niassa's 16 districts, namely Lago, Marrupa, Cuamba, Lichinga, Majune, Maúa and Metarica, all with at least one confirmed case of mpox.

A total of 23,500 doses of the Imvanex vaccine were administered to contacts of confirmed cases, miners, border guards, migration officials and "frontline groups,' including health professionals and community health workers.

"When the outbreak began, it was concentrated in the district of Lago, specifically in the administrative post of Lupulichi, where we saw that most of the patients we had were miners and female sex workers. [In addition to these], we also included [in the vaccination] those who we thought, due to the nature of their work, were more likely to come into contact with cases of Mpox', he said.

According to Viola, Niassa has not recorded any suspected or active cases of the disease for more than two weeks, after 660 suspected cases were recorded since July, 80 of which were positive for Mpox.

"Of these 80 cases, it should be noted that 64 cases were in Lago district. The immunisation serves to break the chain of transmission of the disease in that province', he explained.

According to Viola, the health authorities will continue to raise awareness campaigns, in addition to maintaining surveillance, especially in regions near Mozambique's neighbouring countries with confirmed cases.

Mozambique has a cumulative total of 91 cases of the disease since July, 90 of whom have recovered.

In addition to Niassa, with 80 positive cases, Mpox cases have also been recorded in the provinces of Maputo (4), Tete (3), Manica (3) and Cabo Delgado (1).