DR Congo rolls out Ebola vaccine for health workers as death toll rises

Key developments are emerging from the global stage. 50,000 frontline staff to receive a jab for a different Ebola strain, with 20,000 enrolled in a one-year clinical trial. Health workers in parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have begun to receive a vaccine that many hope will provide a level of protection against the Ebola virus. The vaccine rollout started on Saturday in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province in the northeastern DRC.

Ituri is the epicentre of the fastest-growing outbreak of Ebola in history. The provincial governor, Major-General Gaby Kasongo Mulumba, said health workers there “are particularly exposed and deeply involved in the response”. The operation, backed by the World Health Organization and Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, will also target North Kivu, where cases have been rising sharply, health authorities said.

The Details

Some 50,000 health and other frontline workers will be injected with the Ervebo vaccine, which was developed for use against the more common Zaire strain. Its effectiveness against the current Ebola strain caused by the Bundibugyo virus will be monitored in 20,000 recipients for up to one year. Clinical trials are ongoing to find a licensed vaccine for the latest outbreak, which has no licensed vaccine or proven treatment.

“We don’t know to what degree it might be effective against the Bundibugyo strain,” Steve Ahuka, a Congolese official who is part of the health task force against the Ebola outbreak, said. Dr Jeannot Elua said at a health facility in Bunia the vaccine was “beneficial”.

The development has drawn wide international attention, with diplomatic circles watching closely.