In the West, only about 10 people have died of monkeypox this year, figures from the U.S. CDC show.
No monkeypox vaccines are publicly available in Africa.
But those failures are being repeated a year on with monkeypox, the health workers consulted by Reuters said.
Congo health minister Jean-Jacques Mbungani told Reuters Congo was in talks with the WHO to buy vaccines, but no formal request had been made.
A WHO spokeswoman said that in the absence of available vaccines, countries should instead focus on surveillance and contact tracing.