THE Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will receive the first vaccine doses to address its mpox outbreak next week from the United States, the country’s health minister has said.

Monday’s announcement came days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared mpox outbreaks in Africa a global emergency, but there was no word on the quantity of the vaccine that would be made available.

Mpox cases have been confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen African countries and a new form of the virus is spreading.