Health workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have begun receiving an Ebola vaccine as authorities respond to an outbreak centred in the country’s northeastern provinces. The rollout started on Saturday in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province, which Al Jazeera described as the epicentre of the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak in history.
The campaign is backed by the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, and is also expected to cover North Kivu, where cases have been rising sharply, according to health authorities cited by Al Jazeera. About 50,000 health and other frontline workers are expected to receive the Ervebo vaccine.
Ervebo was developed for the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, while the current outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus. Its effectiveness against that strain will be monitored in 20,000 recipients for up to one year. Steve Ahuka, a Congolese official on the outbreak health task force, said the degree of protection remained unknown.
Clinical trials are continuing to seek a licensed vaccine for the outbreak, which currently has no licensed vaccine or proven treatment, Al Jazeera reported. The Ervebo doses are being administered under a compassionate-use programme, allowing a medical product to be used in a serious disease situation even when it has not been specifically approved for that use.
WHO experts have said early data, particularly from animal trials, suggested Ervebo could provide some protection against the current virus. The WHO said in August that 70,000 doses had been approved for use in the DRC.
According to the latest figures from local authorities cited by Al Jazeera, the virus has infected about 7,541 people and killed at least 3,639 since May, while 1,823 people have recovered. WHO officials have reported encouraging signs that transmission may be slowing, but MSF said there was no clear evidence the epidemic was under control.