EbolaEbola vaccine drive launched in DRC as number of cases rise to 49
In a development that global health officials say is a turning point in how the world fights Ebola, vaccinators today began immunizing health workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the first stage of a ring vaccination strategy. In other developments, four more illnesses were reported, along with another healthcare worker death, and more countries signaled financial support to help with the international response to the outbreak.
In a development that global health officials say is a turning point in how the world fights Ebola, vaccinators today began immunizing health workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the first stage of a ring vaccination strategy.
In other developments, four more illnesses were reported, along with another healthcare worker death, and more countries signaled financial support to help with the international response to the outbreak.
The launch of the vaccine campaign comes at the start of the World Health Assembly, the World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) decision-making body made up of delegates from 194 countries. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in his opening speech today. spoke of his visit last week to the DRC’s outbreak hot spot. He said he was proud of the WHO’s response so far and thanked the WHO’s global health partners for their quick actions.
“The outbreak in Bikoro illustrates again that health security and universal health coverage are two sides of the same coin. The best thing we can do to prevent future outbreaks is to strengthen healthsystems everywhere,” Tedros said.
Vaccination begins with health providers
CIDRAP reports that in an update yesterday, the WHO said healthcare worker and ring vaccination began in the country’s two Ebola hot spots, Mbandaka and Bikoro, both located in Equateur Province. It said Merck has provided the WHO with 8,640 doses of VSV-EBOV, the experimental vaccine furthest along in clinical trials that was shown to be highly effective in a phase 3 trial in Guinea at the end of West Africa’s outbreak.
The unlicensed vaccine is being deployed on a compassionate use basis along with a clinical trial. Merck has donated the vaccine doses, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance has contributed $1 million toward the vaccine campaign’s operational costs.
On Twitter today, Peter Salama, the WHO’s deputy director-general for emergency preparedness and response, said, “Today marks a turning point in how we deal with Ebola—we are moving from a strategy of containment to one of offering communities protection and care.”
