bmj;386/sep19_9/q2024/FAF1faCDCJean Kakuru Biyambo, a father of six from the Muja camp for internally displaced persons in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, gestures outside Goma general hospital, where he is receiving treatment for mpox. Across the DRC at least 16 000 cases of mpox have been reported, including more than 500 deaths.This week the World Health Organization has added the MVA-BN mpox vaccine to its prequalification list,1 making it accessible to UN agencies and therefore low income countries.Yukiko Nakatani, WHO’s assistant director general for access to medicines, said, “This will help accelerate ongoing procurement of the mpox vaccines by governments and agencies such as Gavi and Unicef to help communities on the front lines of the emergency in Africa and beyond.”The vaccine is currently not licensed for anyone aged under 18 years, but WHO said it may be used off label in these age groups in an outbreak. Last month…
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