7 million get yellow fever vaccine in DR Congo

KINSHASA, Saturday

Almost eight million people in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital Kinshasa have been vaccinated against yellow fever in under two weeks, the World Health Organization has said.

“WHO commends the Government of the DR Congo for this significant achievement to roll out such a complex campaign in such a short period of time,” said Dr Yokouide Allarangar, the agency’s representative in the country.

There is no specific treatment for yellow fever, a viral haemorrhagic disease transmitted in urban settings mainly by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which also spreads Zika, dengue and chikungunya.

The disease can have a mortality rate of up to 50 per cent, but is often not considered as big a threat as Ebola or Zika, since there has long been a very efficient vaccine against it.

However, the percentage of people immunised against yellow fever remains low in many parts of Africa.

The massive vaccination campaign in Kinshasa used an emergency vaccine — one fifth of the full dose — as a short-term measure to reach as many people as possible, given limited supplies of the vaccine.

A total of 7.7 million people in the Congolese capital were vaccinated. Normally such a campaign would take six months.

The drive was carried out by the country’s health ministry, WHO and more than 50 global partners, with vaccination centres at more than 8,000 locations across the country.

More than 1.5 million people were vaccinated outside the capital.