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Vaccines for mpox are finally reaching Africa. But questions about the virus remain

Mpox’s rapid spread in Africa raises concerns it may now be more infectious and more severe

A health care worker wearing medical protective gear checks on a young boy at an mpox treatment center.

A health care worker checks on a 2-year-old child who is being treated for mpox at the Nyiragongo General Referral Hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on August 14, 2024. The country is at the center of an mpox outbreak that has spread to other countries.

© Guerchom Ndebo/WHO

By Erin Garcia de Jesús and Abdullahi Tsanni

When the virus that causes mpox jumped onto the international stage in 2022, countries around the world, including the United States, turned to vaccines targeting the closely related smallpox virus to curb its spread.