Photo/Illutration When mpox vaccines arrive from Japan, they will be temporarily stored here inside a freezer storage operated by the Democratic Republic of the Congo's government and UNICEF. The photo was taken in Kinshasa, the capital of the country, on Sept. 30. (Susumu Imaizumi)

To combat the increasing spread of mpox on the central African continent, the health ministry announced on Dec. 19 that it will soon provide the Democratic Republic of the Congo with 50,000 vaccine doses.

The Japanese government can finally ship the vaccines four months after it received the request, it was announced at the Committee on Health, Welfare and Labor of the Upper House that day.

According to the health ministry, doctors of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine and health ministry officials taught medical workers in Congo this week how to administer the vaccines. 

It is said that the smallpox vaccine is effective against mpox, formerly known as monkeypox. Infection with mpox causes a fever and swollen lymph nodes, followed by a distinctive rash that develops into pus-filled blisters.

Currently, two companies of Japan and Denmark produce the vaccine against mpox. 

However, only the Japanese pharmaceutical company KM Biologics Co., based in Kumamoto, produces vaccines that can also be given to children. Congo has requested the vaccines from the company.

In response to the spread of mpox, WHO declared a state of emergency on Aug. 14.

Soon after that, Keizo Takemi, health minister at that time, announced that the ministry was preparing to provide the vaccines.

Sources related to the Foreign Ministry told Asahi Shimbun reporters that the vaccines would be sent to Congo by the end of October.

However, according to sources related to the health ministry, it took time to clarify any compensation if adverse health effect were caused by the vaccine between the two countries.

“The vaccines will be provided for free. So, we have to avoid a situation where the pharmaceutical company would have to pay compensation if something goes wrong including health-related damage,” sources said.

Japan is scheduled to provide 3.05 million doses of the vaccine to Congo. The 3 million doses aside from the 50,000 doses that will be sent shortly will be sent as soon as they are ready.

While the provision of the vaccine from Japan has been delayed, Congo already started using vaccines from Denmark’s pharmaceutical company in early October.

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