BUNIA – Congo has taken delivery of more than 16,000 doses of the Ervebo vaccine as health authorities race to contain what the country’s health minister described as the fastest-moving Ebola outbreak ever recorded.
A shipment of 16,250 doses landed late Friday at N’djili International Airport in Kinshasa, the capital. The delivery is part of a larger allocation of 70,000 doses pledged by the World Health Organization and its partners, which was announced on Thursday. Additional vaccine supplies are expected to arrive early next week.
The latest Ebola outbreak in Congo has been linked to the rare Bundibugyo virus, a strain for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment. The virus can spread quickly and may be difficult to detect early because several symptoms resemble those of other common diseases, including malaria. Ervebo is licensed for Ebola and has proved effective in previous outbreaks, and the WHO has said it could offer some level of protection against the Bundibugyo virus.
As of Friday, the outbreak had caused 2,516 deaths among 5,290 confirmed cases. Its rapid spread has raised fears that it could overtake the deadliest Ebola outbreak on record, which claimed more than 11,000 lives in West Africa between 2014 and 2016. Figures from the Africa Centre for Disease Control indicate that transmission has not yet reached its peak and could climb to three times the current known rate.
Containment efforts have been severely complicated by armed conflict between government forces and rebel groups, including in key cities at the center of the outbreak. Health teams are also facing attacks on medical workers and facilities, the movement of itinerant laborers and people displaced by fighting, and a shortage of essential infrastructure needed to slow the spread of the disease.
