Nigeria has begun administering Mpox vaccine shots to health workers and immediate contacts of infected persons in seven states where cases have been reported.

The National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), disclosed this on Monday through its X handle.

“Vaccination against Monkeypox officially kicked off today! & Protecting communities and safeguarding health-one step at a time. Together, we can fight Monkeypox!” the agency wrote.

According to the NPHCDA Chief Executive Director, Muyi Aina, the vaccination is mostly targeted at health workers in facilities where cases have been diagnosed and close contacts of infected people.

He said the agency is focusing on seven states, mostly in the south of the country.

“For the Mpox vaccine, as you know, we’re targeting health workers in a few facilities where Mpox cases are diagnosed and treated. When there are suspected cases, we refer them to facilities, so the health workers there are getting vaccinated.

“But also contacts, immediate contacts of confirmed cases will be vaccinated. We’ve only had just over 100 cases in Nigeria, so it’s not that bad, but when there are people around them when it’s confirmed, they are also eligible for the vaccine,” Punch Newspaper quoted Mr Aina to have said.

The vaccination is coming two months after Nigeria received its first batch of the Mpox vaccine from the US.

Mpox vaccine from the US
In August, shortly after the World Health Organisation declared Mpox a global public health emergency, Nigeria received its first batch of 10,000 doses of the Mpox vaccine from the United States.

Mr Muyi had described the donation as a critical step for Nigeria.

At the time, the Nigerian government decided to prioritise five states for the vaccines, including Bayelsa, Edo, Cross-River and Lagos.

In a statement on the vaccine, Mr Muyi said: “We are aware that the vaccine is not exactly in surplus supply. I believe we’re getting 10,000 of the about 200,000 doses available globally.”

Nigeria is also expected to receive more vaccines from the Access and Allocation Mechanism (AAM) for Mpox.

The Africa Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC) earlier disclosed that the AAM allocated 899,000 vaccine doses to nine African countries with high infection rates, including Nigeria.

WHO framework is also expected to receive 5.85 million vaccine doses for African countries by the end of the year.

Nigeria has, so far, reported 1,339 suspected cases of Mpox and 102 confirmed cases from 12 states across the country, including Abuja, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).

However, the country has yet to report any fatalities.

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