Africa Launches Massive Vaccine Campaign To Curb Yellow Fever Outbreak

A small but significant fraction of cases die from jaundice, bleeding and multiple organ failure. More than 400 people have died of the virus since December.

The campaign is being accelerated to try to stop it spreading before the rainy season starts in September and makes more remote parts of the region inaccessible. Other challenges include a lack of reliable power to keep vaccines cold.

“By the end of this vaccination campaign … we are going to put an end to the progression of yellow fever,” Congo’s Minister of Health, Felix Kabange Numbi Kabange, told reporters on Tuesday at a ceremony to mark the start of the campaign.

China and Japan, the World Bank, WHO and the U.N. Children’s Fund as well as the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization are financing the campaign, WHO spokesman in Congo, Eugene Kabambi, said.

About 2 million people were vaccinated in Kinshasa during campaigns in May and July. Overall, some 13 million people in Angola and 3 million in Congo have been vaccinated this year.