Race to combat mpox misinformation as vaccine rollout in DRC begins

For doctors and nurses fighting mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the virus itself is not the only enemy. They are also facing swirling rumours and misinformation.The first of millions of promised doses of mpox vaccine have finally started to arrive. Now the focus is on ensuring that people who need them will take them when the vaccination campaign begins next month, and teaching wider communities how to protect themselves.Conspiracy theories spreading across the country include the suggestion that mpox has been invented by white people in order to sterilise Congolese people with vaccines – or that it is just a money-making scheme from pharmaceutical companies. Mistrust in medical institutions and treatments is in many cases a legacy of racist colonial policies.“You see this kind of misinformation – and it spreads [more] quickly than the normal information,” said Dr Junior Mudji, chief of research at Vanga hospital in the west of the DRC.With about 26,000 mpox…