Sharjah24 - Reuters: The acting director of Africa's top public health agency said on Thursday that he hoped vaccine hoarding, as seen by wealthier nations during the COVID-19 pandemic, would not be repeated with the current monkeypox outbreak.

Monkeypox, a usually mild viral infection, is endemic in the African countries of Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.

But it has caused global alarm after more than 200 suspected and confirmed cases of the virus were detected in at least 19 countries since early May, mostly in Europe. No deaths have been reported so far.

"Vaccines should go to where it is needed the most and equitably, so based on risk, and not on who can be able to buy it," Ahmed Ogwell Ouma of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention told a news conference.

The World Health Organization has in the past wealthy countries against hoarding COVID-19 vaccines and threatening supplies to poorer countries where inoculation rates are low.