Congo needs to do more to raise awareness about mpox and the availability of vaccines, an official with the response team said on Thursday, warning the campaign to distribute the shots would take longer than anticipated Congo's mpox vaccination campaign launched this month in the hard-hit east.

STORY: Benire Furahini Buchaguzi is at the forefront of Democratic Republic of Congo's uphill battle against mpox.The 22-year-old community health worker is among those promoting vaccination in the country's hard-hit eastern region.

The vaccination campaign in the country worst hit by the virus began on Saturday. The DRC has already recorded about 1,000 deaths and its government is calling for more doses to protect the population

As it tries to quell an outbreak of mpox, the Democratic Republic of Congo has kicked off vaccinations against the disease. 265,000 doses were given to the DRC by the EU and US; they have been administered in Kivu province and Goma.

Congolese authorities have started vaccinations against mpox, nearly two months after the disease outbreak that spread from Congo to several other African countries and beyond was declared a global emergency.

The spread of mpox in congested refugee camps and prisons is raising vaccine needs as Africa struggles to contain multiple outbreaks of the disease that has killed 1,100 people on the continent this year.