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Congo will receive 70,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine, which has been effective in past Ebola outbreaks, the World Health Organization and partners said Thursday, announcing a step seen as a major boost to efforts to contain what officials have described as the fastest Ebola outbreak in history.
The Ervebo vaccine is licensed for use against Ebola virus, one of the viruses that cause Ebola disease, but not for Bundibugyo virus, which is responsible for the current outbreak.
WHO said in a statement that while it’s not known whether Ervebo may protect against the Bundibugyo virus, “early laboratory and animal data suggest it may provide some protection.”
The allocation includes 20,000 doses for a Phase 3 clinical trial to understand the impact of the vaccine on the Bundibugyo virus, the agency said. The remaining 50,000 doses will be used for front-line and health workers as recommended by WHO experts.
The outbreak raging on in eastern Congo has so far killed 2,476 people out of the 5,208 confirmed cases.
It has infected and killed more people at a greater speed than any other Ebola outbreak in history, and is spreading about three times faster than that of 2014-2016 across West Africa, which was the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record with more than 11,000 deaths.
The lack of approved vaccines or treatments for the rare Bundibugyo virus has been a major issue for responders. Also, most new cases are being reported outside of the people being monitored, showing it has spread quickly and left surveillance teams racing to catch up.
