Ebola-hit DR Congo gets 70,000 doses of Ervebo vaccine
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP)—The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday that the Ebola-hit Democratic Republic of Congo would receive 70,000 doses of a vaccine approved for protecting against the virus, but not the strain spreading in the country.
The doses of the Ervebo vaccine, which has proved safe and effective against the Zaire strain of Ebola virus, are being released by the International Coordination Group for Vaccine Provision for trials and limited use in the response to the deadly outbreak of the less common Bundibugyo strain of the virus, the WHO said in a statement.
The release came after a request last week from the government in the DRC, which has recorded more than 5,000 Ebola cases, including over 2,300 deaths, since the outbreak was declared three months ago, making it its deadliest on record.
The country had been informed of the “immediate” release of the doses on Monday, the WHO said.
“The allocation includes 20,000 doses for a Phase 3 clinical trial to understand the impact of the vaccine on the Bundibugyo virus, and 50,000 doses for frontline and health workers,” the United Nations health agency added.
Those uses were “in line with the current recommendations of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE)”, it stressed.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus welcomed the decision, and hailed it as “an important example of global solidarity in action”.
Declared on May 15, the DRC’s 17th Ebola outbreak is thought to have already been spreading for several weeks by that point.
It has hit regions in the north and east where the presence of the state is weak, health infrastructure is largely lacking and myriad armed groups have roamed for decades.
Ebola is spread by contact with bodily fluids and causes a haemorrhagic fever. It has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years.
There is no approved vaccine or specific treatment for the Bundibugyo virus strain behind the current surge.
Earlier this month, WHO vaccine experts recommended a full-scale human trial of Ervebo, the only existing approved Ebola vaccine, to see if it offered cross-protection against the Bundibugyo strain.
The Ervebo vaccine has proved safe and successful in defending against the more common Zaire strain. WHO experts said that early data, notably from animal trials, showed it may also give some protection against Bundibugyo
