Around a third of mpox vaccines donated by Japan to the Democratic Republic of Congo are going to waste due to storage challenges.
The LC16 vaccine, which is the only approved vaccine for children, must be mixed before use and cannot be stored for more than a few hours once opened, resulting in a 32-35% loss rate.
Congo has received three million doses of the LC16 vaccine, with the second tranche of 1.5 million doses arriving in September.
Despite the challenges, over half a million people have been vaccinated with either LC16 or Bavarian Nordic’s vaccine.
The World Health Organization (WHO) expects a 5-50% vaccine wastage rate, with LC16 usually on the higher end due to storage issues.
The mpox outbreak has affected 17 countries across Africa, with Congo reporting 53,657 cases this year.
The WHO downgraded the outbreak from a global health emergency in September due to declining infection rates.
