ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 14– The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has called for support for the immediate implementation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) government’s decision to deploy the Ervebo vaccine to help contain the “rapidly escalating” Ebola outbreak in the country.
Africa CDC Director-General Jean Kaseya, during an online briefing on Thursday, described the move as “a big step” in the ongoing response against the rare Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak, highlighting that the Central African country has already submitted a request for 100,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine to the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision.
Warning that the current emergency “risks becoming the deadliest the country has faced, and we cannot allow that trajectory to continue,” Kaseya said the requested vaccine doses will support clinical trials, the vaccination of front-line responders, and those in urgent need of the vaccine.
The lack of licensed vaccines or targeted medical countermeasures against the rare Bundibugyo strain is further driving the disease’s rapid transmission across parts of the DRC. According to the latest Africa CDC data, the country has recorded a total of 4,449 confirmed cases and 2,061 deaths, representing a case fatality rate of about 46.3 percent.
The Ervebo vaccine is a World Health Organization (WHO) pre-qualified, single-dose vaccine for the disease caused by the Zaire Ebola virus strain and has an extensive safety and deployment record.
Highlighting Ervebo’s potential cross-protection and the current emergency context, Kaseya stressed that deployment of this vaccine is a strategic approach to reduce severe illness and deaths. He said this approach will simultaneously generate the rigorous evidence needed to guide the wider response.
The expanded use of the Ervebo vaccine is planned to begin with eligible contacts, healthcare responders, community health workers, burial teams, religious and village leaders, and people in high-transmission hotspots with repeated occupational exposure, it was noted.
The launch of the expanded use of the licensed Ervebo vaccine is one of the immediate measures agreed upon during a high-level crisis meeting convened by DRC President Felix Tshisekedi, alongside the Africa CDC chief and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, last week in Kinshasa, the capital of the DRC.
The Africa CDC chief, however, stressed that vaccination must reinforce, not replace, other outbreak response efforts. These include active case finding, rapid diagnostics, isolation and supportive care, infection prevention and control, safe burials, contact management, and trusted community engagement.
The Ebola virus is highly contagious and causes symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized pain, and malaise. In severe cases, it can cause internal and external bleeding. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
