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The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has donated 10,000 Jynneous vaccines to Nigeria, as part of efforts to mitigate the spread of Mpox.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday at the official handover, the Director General of the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NHPCDA) Dr Muyi Aina, said the distribution of the vaccine will commence immediately and priority will be given to states with the highest cases and frontline workers.
He thanked the US government for the support and pledged to the judicious use of the vaccines which he said will help save lives and curb the spread of monkey pox across Nigeria.
Nigeria Intensifies Surveillance As Mpox Cases Hit 39
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said a total of 39 confirmed cases and zero deaths from Mpox have been recorded across 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Director General of the NCDC, Jide Idris, made the revelation at a press briefing on the declaration of mpox as a public health emergency of international concern earlier in the month.
He said the NCDC is intensifying surveillance across Nigeria to swiftly detect and respond to new cases.
According to Idris, the NCDC all port health services across all five international airports, 10 seaports, and 51 land/foot crossing borders are on high alert.
He added that some states have also been put on high alert including Lagos, Enugu, Kano, Rivers, Cross-River, Akwa-Ibom, Adamawa, Taraba, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
WHO recently declared the mpox surge in Africa a global public health emergency, worried by the rise in cases in DRC and the spread to nearby countries.
The WHO called a meeting of experts to study the outbreak and make a recommendation to Dr Ghebreyesus.
“Today, the emergency committee met and advised me that in its view, the situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice,” Tedros told a press conference.
“This is something that should concern us all. WHO is committed in the days and weeks ahead to coordinate the global response, working closely with each of the affected countries, and leveraging our on-the-ground presence, to prevent transmission, treat those infected, and save lives.”
The decision comes after the African Union’s health watchdog declared its public health emergency over the growing outbreak.
Mpox has swept through the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the virus formerly called monkeypox was first discovered in humans in 1970, and spread to other countries.
Tedros said the more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths reported so far this year in DR Congo have already exceeded last year’s total