The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has received an allocation of 70,000 doses of Merck’s Ervebo Ebola vaccine as health authorities intensify efforts to contain the country’s largest recorded Ebola outbreak, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Thursday.
The vaccines were released from the global Ebola vaccine stockpile managed by the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision after the Congolese government requested emergency supplies last week.
WHO said 20,000 doses from the allocation would be used in a clinical trial to determine whether Ervebo can protect against the Bundibugyo strain of the Ebola virus.
The current outbreak is being caused by the Bundibugyo virus, for which there is currently no approved vaccine or treatment.
Ervebo is licensed to protect against the Zaire ebolavirus, the strain responsible for several previous Ebola outbreaks. However, health experts have not established whether the vaccine provides protection against Bundibugyo.
WHO said the clinical trial could generate important evidence on the vaccine’s effectiveness against the strain and guide the response to the ongoing outbreak.
Government figures show that confirmed Ebola infections in the DRC have surpassed 5,000, while the death toll has reached 2,378.
The country’s 17th Ebola outbreak became its largest by number of reported cases in late July, overtaking the outbreak that occurred between 2018 and 2020.
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WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said earlier this week that the outbreak in eastern Congo remained a global emergency.
Health authorities are using vaccination and other public health measures to contain the spread of the virus while medical teams continue monitoring affected communities.
The ICG vaccine supply group includes WHO, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Médecins Sans Frontières and UNICEF.
The latest vaccine allocation is expected to support Congo’s immediate response.
