The Democratic Republic of Congo should start to receive 3 million doses of mpox vaccine from Japan next week that can be used for children, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Thursday.

Vaccinations against the potentially deadly infection are underway in the country, the epicenter of the outbreak, but there have been no shots available for children, who are particularly vulnerable to mpox.

Japan pledged in September to donate doses from its national stockpile of LC16m8 vaccines, first developed by local firm KM Biologics for smallpox and effective against mpox.