Q&A on the Second International Mpox Emergency
FactcheckSep 22
Nigeria Begins Mpox Vaccination Program After Delays
Above: A vial of the mpox vaccine is seen during the launch of the vaccination campaign at the General Hospital of Goma, DR Congon, on Oct. 5, 2024. Image copyright: Aubin Mukoni/AFP via Getty Images
The Facts
Health workers administered shots to 30 people at the Federal Medical Center in the capital of Nigeria, Abuja, on Monday, marking the kickoff of a vaccination program that had been due to start more than a month ago.
Expected to last 10 days — and take place across seven states as well as the capital — this effort will focus on health workers who work in facilities to which mpox cases are referred, immunocompromised people, and contacts of confirmed cases.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
With the support of the international community, Nigeria and other countries affected by Africa's deadliest mpox surge on record are able to administer vaccines against the disease — at least to specific groups — and control the epidemic. There's still a long way to go, but the future looks much brighter now than during the 2022 outbreak.
Establishment-critical narrative
Despite the WHO having twice raised the alarm internationally over the threat posed by mpox, not enough has been done to tackle this crisis. Some have even blamed "vaccine nationalism" — the inequity by which nations exploit their relative wealth to reserve vaccines in advance of their availability to the developing world — undermining the efficacy of any potential global response. Even the current vaccine rollout is limited to only the highest risk groups, rather than the broader population.