The World Health Organization (WHO) has begun administering Ebola vaccines to frontline health workers and contacts of persons infected in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
About 400 doses of the Ervebo vaccine have already been delivered to Bulape, one of the current hotspots of the outbreak.
As of September 8, there were 63 suspected Ebola cases with 16 deaths, including 4 health workers, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The WHO explains that the vaccination aims at protecting against the Zaire ebolavirus species, confirmed to be the source of the outbreak.
“An initial 400 doses of the Ervebo Ebola vaccine—from the country’s stockpile of 2000 doses prepositioned in the capital Kinshasa—have been delivered to Bulape, one of the current hotspots of the outbreak. Additional doses will be delivered to the affected localities in the coming days,” WHO said in a statement on Sunday.
The World Health Organization says it has deployed the ring vaccination strategy which targets individuals with high infection risk after encountering infected patients.
The statement adds that the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision has approved around 45 000 additional Ebola vaccine doses to be shipped to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of the ongoing outbreak response.
WHO has also deployed 48 experts in disease surveillance, clinical care, infection prevention and control, logistics and community engagement to support the DRC government’s response towards containing the spread of the virus.
