Democratic Republic of Congo receives 70,000 doses of Ebola vaccine

The Democratic Republic of Congo will receive 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine in the fight against the Ebola epidemic. The vaccine was made available by the International Vaccine Coordination Group of the World Health Organization (WHO). According to its own statements, the WHO was responding to a request from the Congolese government.

Ervebo has so far only been tested and approved for use against the Zaire strain of the Ebola virus, not for the Bundibugyo variant currently rampant in Congo. However, the WHO said the Ervebo vaccine has also been shown to be effective in other Ebola outbreaks in the past. Laboratory data suggested the vaccine could also provide protection against the rare Bundibugyo variant.

Whether this is confirmed is now being tested in a clinical study in the Congo: According to the WHO, 20,000 of the vaccine doses are earmarked for a third test phase on the effectiveness of Ervebo against the Bundibugyo variant. The remaining 50,000 are for medical personnel fighting the epidemic. The vaccine doses should be administered as early as Monday.

WHO fears worst Ebola outbreak in history

The Ebola outbreak in Congo was officially declared on May 15th. Experts suspect that the virus had been spreading for weeks beforehand. The epidemic is affecting several provinces in the north and east of the central African country, where medical care is severely limited after years of armed conflict.

With around 5,200 confirmed infections and more than 2,300 deaths so far, it is already the worst Ebola outbreak in Congo - the WHO fears it could become the world's worst outbreak in history. Never before has the Ebola virus spread so quickly.