GENEVA (Reuters) – Some 6,000 people in Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo are believed to be infected with yellow fever, six times the number of confirmed cases, but no new infections have been confirmed since July 12, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.
Around 7.7 million people were vaccinated over 10 days in a major campaign in the Congo capital of Kinshasa, Oyewale Tomori, chair of WHO’s Emergency Committee, told a news conference.
The outbreak does not constitute an international public health emergency, but intense population movements across the border to neighboring Republic of Congo pose a risk of further spread, the panel of independent experts said.
The WHO’s global stockpile of yellow fever vaccine has 6 million doses, but it is working with four vaccine makers to boost production and reach 20 million doses by December, said Dr Peter Salama, executive director of WHO’s emergencies program.
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