Congo Receives 70k Merck Vaccines as Ebola Outbreak Hits New Deadliest Milestone
The Democratic Republic of Congo is facing its deadliest Ebola outbreak to date, claiming over 2,000 lives. To combat this crisis, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced that the country will receive 70,000 doses of Merck's Ervebo vaccine.
This allocation comes from the global Ebola virus disease vaccine stockpile, managed by the International Coordinating Group (ICG). The WHO has stated that while the vaccine is approved to prevent disease caused by the Zaire ebolavirus strain, it is not known whether it may be protective against the Bundibugyo virus in humans.
The ongoing outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo species of Ebola, which has no approved vaccines or treatments. The WHO has stressed the importance of clinical trials to provide new evidence. The health agency has also stated that the country's 17th Ebola epidemic has become its biggest on record in terms of case count, with over 5,000 confirmed cases.